The night was as close to perfect as the Minnesota Wild could hope for in their season-opening 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues. The top line connected for two goals while Ryan Hartman is already within nine goals of his total from last season. Joel Eriksson Ek added a power play goal to round out the offense. Most importantly, Filip Gustavsson looked like the number one goaltender the team needed him to be.
In his first game since signing a five-year, $34 million contract the Swedish netminder stopped 27 shots, including 14 in the second period as St. Louis tried to claw back from a 2-0 deficit. It took Minnesota 12:25 to generate their first shot in the middle frame, but Gustavsson held down the fort, making stop after stop.
With his defense playing well in front of him, Gustavsson didn’t have to make a ton of 10-bell saves. He was on his angles all night long which made several tough saves look easy. According to Natural Stat Trick he only faced 7 high-danger shots and turned them all aside.
The offense was efficient as they scored 5 goals on just 21 shots with St. Louis outchancing them 27-16. For the Wild, it was a resounding positive that they netted four of their goals at 5v5, an area that they struggled with last season. The Wild have now won five of their last six season openers and seven of their last eleven contests against the Blues.
Other stats of note:
- Kirill Kaprizov picked up three assists on the night while Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists. Marco Rossi had a goal and an assist as the top offensive threats did their job.
- Ryan Hartman had his first multi-goal regular-season game since he potted two against the Florida Panthers on January 19, 2024. However, he scored twice against Vegas in Game 6 in last year’s playoffs, so technically he’s riding a two-game multi-goal streak.
- Hunter Haight made his NHL debut and won 62.5% of his face-offs in 10:27 of ice time.
- Marcus Foligno briefly left the game in the first period after taking a puck off of his hand. He returned to lead the team with 4 blocked shots.
- It was a tough night for the Liam Ohgren - Hunter Haight - Vinnie Hinostoza line as they were outshot 4-0 and outchanced 4-1 in their 6:45 of ice time together.