Jesper Wallstedt is earning the first half of his surname. The 23-year-old Swede stopped another 20 shots, more than half of those in the third period against an increasingly frantic and frustrated Dallas offense in Tuesday's 4-2 win over the Stars that put the Wild up 3-2 in the series. With both of the goals coming at five-on-four, Wallstedt still has not allowed an even-strength goal since the opening minutes of Game 3—a stretch that has featured several overtimes and many deceptively good chances. How on-point has Wallstedt been? Tuesday's performance lowered his save percentage in this series, to a still-sparkling .926.
The Wild have a reputation. It's one of competence, which is a fine thing to have, but it's also one of underachievement. They've made eight of the last 10 postseasons, and been eliminated in the first round in all eight. This is a function of often having a team that's just OK, and also of the luck of the bracket sending them up against some first-round buzzsaws. That latter trend was not broken this year, the Wild drawing one of the other two real contenders in the West. But these Wild already feel a little different than their predecessors. Part of that was the midseason trade for Quinn Hughes, a bold and expensive move that only real Cup hopefuls tend to pull off. An even bigger part was the emergence of Wallstedt, looking like he might be cut out for being this generation's rookie Cam Ward.
This was basically unthinkable a year ago. The Wild picked Wallstedt 20th overall in 2021 with every intention that he be their goalie of the future, but the future proved bumpy. His cup of coffee in 23–24 was nasty; that instant coffee that's all sludgy, or something. His cup of coffee the next year was even worse; it had rat poison in it. Metaphorically. He spent the vast majority of his first three professional years in Des Moines, and last season was awful even against AHL competition, with an .879 save percentage. "I was a wreck not succeeding," Wallstedt said. "Sometimes you go through a couple weeks. Me, it was whole year where I just couldn’t figure it out."
But something changed this year, either in Wallstedt's mental state (he credits his goalie coach's suggestion that he start journaling after games), his physical preparation, or just the flipping of that mysterious switch that happens with goalies sometimes. Starting off the year as a distant backup to Filip Gustavsson, who signed a five-year contract for starter money in September, he played his way into a true 1A/1B rotation, earning 33 starts and outplaying Gustavsson so thoroughly down the stretch that head coach John Hynes had no choice but to name Wallstedt the playoff starter.
(The Wild will worry later about what to do with two good goalies on the roster, perhaps this offseason. But it's no longer likely that if one were to be traded, it'd be Wallstedt. As an aside, it's pretty funny that some teams—[fake coughing] Oilers!—can spend a generation desperately trying and failing to find a capable starter, while others stumble their way into multiple.)
Wallstedt's newfound aplomb is minimalist in form. He's very quiet in net when he's on—no flailing about or flashy swipes with the trapper, but small movements, and deliberate positioning decisions to take space and angles away from shooters without committing until they do. It's the unmistakable body language of a goalie who's feeling himself. He might even need a little humbling from his teammates from time to time. "[H]e’s got that attitude of a stud goalie," Marcus Foligno said. "He’s got his chin up high, and he just walks around like he owns the room sometimes. We’re going to settle him down a bit.
"I don’t want to say he’s playing with house money, but he’s got nothing to lose. "
Even if the kid who idolized Henrik Lundqvist growing up is feeling like a celebrity himself, Wallstedt said he had a rough time in the early going of Game 5, but Minnesota's ever-capable defense bailed him out until he could get comfortable. "I was scrambling a little bit. I was overplaying rebounds. ... Our team play was so good that they didn't even have the chance to challenge me that much." Feeling out of sorts is going to happen with regularity to a goalie, and will happen several times over any lengthy playoff run, but a well-rounded team finds ways to compensate for any temporary softnesses. These Wild may still have goalscoring questions, but a top-5 defense and a netminder on an elite run can cover for a whole lot of ills.
So now the Wild head home with two chances to slay their first-round demons for the first time since Devan Dubnyk roamed the crease. And if you want to look ahead, the last Wild goaltender to win even a single second-round game was Ilya Bryzgalov, who made his NHL debut a year before Wallstedt was born. But if these aren't your parents' Minnesota Wild, their baby rockstar goalie might be the reason why.
