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Wild’s Jesper Wallstedt achieves rookie feat not seen in nearly 90 years
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- Wild’s Jesper Wallstedt achieves rookie feat not seen in nearly 90 years
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The post Wild's Jesper Wallstedt achieves rookie feat not seen in nearly 90 years appeared first on ClutchPoints .
The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers 1-0 on Tuesday, moving to 15-7-5 on the season. They are now riding a 12-game point streak, largely thanks to their goaltending. Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt has been sensational this year , picking up his fourth shutout of the young season on Tuesday. According to Sportsnet Stats, that is a first for a rookie .
The Wild drafted Wallstedt in the first round of the 2021 Draft and are finally reaping the benefits from it. At just 23 years old, he is ripping the starting role away from Filip Gustavsson and putting Minnesota in playoff contention. Shutting out the Oilers is no small feat, even considering their rough start.
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Wallstedt is now 8-0-2 on the season with a league-best 1.74 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Since he allowed six goals in a loss to the San Jose Sharks back in October, he has allowed seven goals in seven starts. It has floated the Wild up in the Western Conference standings and helped another team as well.
During the 4 Nations Face-Off, Team Sweden won just one game, and it came against an American team that already clinched a spot in the title game. Jacob Markstrom is hurt again, which clears the path for Wallstedt to make the team. And if Wallstedt keeps this up, the Swedes will have no choice but to put the youngster in the net.
The Wild continue their West Coast road trip on Thursday against the lowly Calgary Flames . While the goaltending duo continues dominating, Minnesota has a chance to further lock in its playoff spot. But the Western Conference standings are tight, and any goaltending regression could send them flying out of a playoff spot.
The Wild signed Kirill Kaprizov to a historic contract extension over the offseason. That could lead to cost-cutting measures next summer, which makes Wallstedt's performance on his rookie contract even more important.
