Article: There's Nothing "Wrong" With Filip Gustavsson

[Justin Wiggins]

View full article

[Pewterschmidt]

Don’t look now but we have a legit NHL first line with Bo-Kap-Ek.  They were snapping the puck around the o-zone like they were on PP.  Add to that Brock-a-doodle-doo jumping into the play and this wild fan was getting tingles last night.

i also like the 36+38 special+The Noodle line

The Italian stallions (your name ends in an “I” you’re Italian, capische?) also look ok. 
#icehockey

[Pewterschmidt]

11 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Don’t look now but we have a legit NHL first line with Bo-Kap-Ek.  They were snapping the puck around the o-zone like they were on PP.  Add to that Brock-a-doodle-doo jumping into the play and this wild fan was getting tingles last night.

i also like the 36+38 special+The Noodle line

The Italian stallions (your name ends in an “I” you’re Italian, capische?) also look ok. 
#icehockey

Check that Rossi on Zuc-noodle line

[Citizen Strife]

Goalie voodoo is real.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Gustavson has had stretches of pretty good play this year, and one stretch of really strong play, but has had some really rough nights mixed in.

The first month, when the Wild were somewhat in disarray and injured, Gus only posted an .872 save percentage, despite an amazing opening night shutout.

Since that time, starting with the game in Sweden, he's gone 14-9-2 with a .905 save percentage. That's nearing average. Fleury was similarly bad in the first month(.879 save%), with a .908 save% starting in Sweden and a 9-6-2 record.

Gustavsson is still the 1A in this pairing, in my opinion(the ice time suggests that), and they'll need him to be if they make the playoffs. Fleury has played fairly well much of the season.

Gus needs to step up with more strong games like the Edmonton game and the Florida game and have fewer bad nights, but they are rather close in overall play, and last season suggests(including the .921 save percentage and never more than 3 goals allowed in the playoffs) that Gus can play better.

Chisholm seems to be helping the defense the last few games as well. He's been getting top 3 defensemen minutes the last few, ahead of Middleton due to his work on the PP, and the Wild have done well with him on the ice.

Wild have outscored opponents 2.4  to 1.6 goals per 60 even strength, and have not allowed any goals in the few penalty kills Chisholm has gotten in on. I'm not suggesting that Chisholm is driving winning, only that he's playing solidly. The Power Play has been strong with him on the ice as well--not clear yet whether that's simply timing due with the forwards getting hot, 5-3 PPs, or if he's making a real difference, but he's a pretty decent offensive D-man.

[Willy the poor boy]

4 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Gustavson has had stretches of pretty good play this year, and one stretch of really strong play, but has had some really rough nights mixed in.

The first month, when the Wild were somewhat in disarray and injured, Gus only posted an .872 save percentage, despite an amazing opening night shutout.

Since that time, starting with the game in Sweden, he's gone 14-9-2 with a .905 save percentage. That's nearing average. Fleury was similarly bad in the first month(.879 save%), with a .908 save% starting in Sweden and a 9-6-2 record.

Gustavsson is still the 1A in this pairing, in my opinion(the ice time suggests that), and they'll need him to be if they make the playoffs. Fleury has played fairly well much of the season.

Gus needs to step up with more strong games like the Edmonton game and the Florida game and have fewer bad nights, but they are rather close in overall play, and last season suggests(including the .921 save percentage and never more than 3 goals allowed in the playoffs) that Gus can play better.

Chisholm seems to be helping the defense the last few games as well. He's been getting top 3 defensemen minutes the last few, ahead of Middleton due to his work on the PP, and the Wild have done well with him on the ice.

Wild have outscored opponents 2.4  to 1.6 goals per 60 even strength, and have not allowed any goals in the few penalty kills Chisholm has gotten in on. I'm not suggesting that Chisholm is driving winning, only that he's playing solidly. The Power Play has been strong with him on the ice as well--not clear yet whether that's simply timing due with the forwards getting hot, 5-3 PPs, or if he's making a real difference, but he's a pretty decent offensive D-man.

I like Chizzy as well. Solid Dman so far and I like his slapper. I don't see any reason for it not to continue.

Both goalies can play solid, but far to often they're prone to giving up an easy one or two. A lot of times those easy ones come when the Wild are building momentum. Really they both remind me of Doobs in that respect. Gus is young so I'm hoping he can work through it, I have to believe it's a mental issue with him. And Flower is just long in the tooth  and likely it's just a slight loss of quickness and agility. Flower seems to not let it get to him so much, but sometimes I think it gets to Gus. JMO...

 

 

[mnfaninnc]

18 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

Both goalies can play solid, but far to often they're prone to giving up an easy one or two. A lot of times those easy ones come when the Wild are building momentum. Really they both remind me of Doobs in that respect. Gus is young so I'm hoping he can work through it, I have to believe it's a mental issue with him. And Flower is just long in the tooth  and likely it's just a slight loss of quickness and agility. Flower seems to not let it get to him so much, but sometimes I think it gets to Gus. JMO...

This is a decent take. What it looks like to me, though, are 2 separate issues. With Fleury, to me, it looks like his are misplays often caused by guessing wrong. As a shorter goalie, he's got a little bigger window upstairs to nail, and sometimes, he goes down and gives players that window and they hit it. 

For Goose2, his issue isn't guessing wrong, it's picking up the puck. There are a lot of easy ones that get through him because he failed to locate where the puck was coming from. To be absolutely fair, he had this same problem last season too. Sometimes, it's defenders screening him, other times it's a puck that has been deflected somewhere that he just doesn't pick up until it's too late. I would say this is a major difference between Goose2 and The Wall. 

The Wall's problem last season seemed to be not getting ready quick enough for different angles. Shooters here were much more comfortable shooting from weird angles or outside than maintaining possession like they would do in Sweden, so he wasn't ready and had to adjust. Goose2 just isn't picking up the puck.