With their 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Sunday night, the Minnesota Wild clawed back to an even record on the season. At 7-7-3, their 17 points still leave them outside of the playoffs, but they’ve trimmed the gap to just a point and leapt over a couple of teams that were ahead of them last week. Now that Mats Zuccarello is healthy and back in the fold, they are starting to resemble the team that fans and management had hoped to see from the start.
Despite the overcast and early darkness that November brings to the region, it has been a much brighter month for the Wild than October. They’ve won 4 out of 5 games since the calendar flipped, already besting their win total of 3 in October. Remembering that they are allowed to score goals at 5v5 has been a great help as they’ve boosted their goals-per-60 to 2.49 from the paltry 1.62 they averaged over the first month of the season.
Still, it’s not as if that number puts them in league with the 1980s Edmonton Oilers in terms of scoring prowess, in fact, it ranks just 13th in the league for the month, but it is definitely much better than the start of the season and an improvement over the 2.07 GF/60 that they posted last year. What has helped them start banking wins is the play of their goaltenders.
Just prior to the season, Filip Gustavsson inked a five-year extension to his contract and it appeared that it might be a bargain as he opened the season with a 5-0 shutout of the St. Louis Blues. Things stagnated a bit after that. Throughout October he posted an .892 SV%, 3.37 GAA, and -3.41 GSAx. Unfortunately, his young understudy, Jesper Wallstedt, wasn’t much better, producing a .863 SV%, 3.45 GAA, -1.66 GSAx line. Not great, but considering the entire team was scuffling along, they weren’t pulling in too much blame.
Things have completely changed in net during their recent run of play. During their recent stretch of four wins in five games, which coincidently lines up with the start of November, the goaltending duo has been outstanding.
Gustavsson is 2-1 with a .910 SV%, 2.65 GAA, and 3.51 GSAx. Those are really solid numbers, but pale in comparison to what Wallstedt has done in his last two starts. He is 2-0 with a .968 SV%, 1.00 GAA, and 2.26 SV%, including the 36-save performance against the Flames. He also stopped 25-of-27 in the team’s 5-2 win on Friday night.
It is worth pointing out that, while the team’s play in front of the goaltenders has improved, they haven’t exactly been shutting things down completely. Over the five games the Wild rank 23rd in high-danger chances allowed, and 24th in scoring chances allowed. Their 2.91 expected-goals against is actually higher than the 2.84 xGA they posted in October. Other teams are still getting their looks, but Gustavsson and Wallstedt have been much better at stopping them.
The fact the 22-year-old Wallstedt started two games in a row raised a few eyebrows, but it appears the coaching staff wanted to give Gustavsson a chance to catch his breath after a stretch of starting eight out of nine games. It doesn’t mean that Wallstedt has usurped Gustavsson as the number one starter, but it wouldn’t be a shock if they go to a more even split of starts over the next couple of weeks.
Having a 1a and 1b tandem in net isn’t the worst thing in the world. Other teams, like the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins, have made it work over the last few seasons, and it keeps both players from being overworked during the long season. As the Wild improve their play on the ice, the fact that their goaltenders have raised their level of play has prevented them from falling out of the playoff race.
Now, they just need to put it all together in order to compete with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche for control of the division, and hopefully a long playoff run.