By Luke Sims -
The Minnesota Wild have hovered around .500 since superstar Kirill Kaprizov went out with injury. In March, Filip Gustavsson was the man they had to thank for that.
Gustavsson led the Wild to a 6-3-1 record in March, with an NHL-best .940 SV% over that stretch. Gustavsson recently won the NHL’s First Star of the Week, where he led the Wild to three wins and had a stellar .67 GAA with a .976 SV%, including a shutout.
John Hynes has ridden Gustavsson during his hot streak. The only two games Marc-Andre Fleury played were two losses against his former teams, the Vegas Golden Knights and Pittsburgh Penguins, in which he surrendered six goals.
The Wild must stay in the first Wild card spot to avoid inevitable defeat to the Winnipeg Jets in the first round. St. Louis Blues are also hotter than the sun’s surface, having won ten in a row and now nipping at Minnesota's heels in the wild-card race.
As of this writing, the Wild and Blues have identical records and remain in the wild card race. Minnesota and St. Louis have 89 points through 76 games played, have a 41-28-7 record, and are riding hot goaltenders. However, goal differential is the big difference between the two squads. The Blues are at a positive 18, while the Wild are 29 goals behind them at -11.
The Wild can’t afford to give Gustavsson a game off.
With a back-to-back coming up against the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, Marc-Andre Fleury will likely only get one more start before Minnesota’s regular season ends.
The future Hall of Famer hasn’t been sharp lately and made more headlines in a game where he didn’t play. After the conclusion of the recent victory against the Washington Capitals, longtime frenemy Alexander Ovechkin brought his team back onto the ice to shake hands with Fleury for what would be the last time the future all-time NHL goal leader gets to face him.
Gustavsson will likely start the other five games remaining on the Wild’s schedule, bringing his season total of starts to 58. That’s 13 more than he’s ever started in a single season.
Since March 1, the Wild have been the ninth-worst team in shots allowed, with 28.05 points per game. That has forced Gus to stand on his head a bit more and help Minnesota’s lackluster defense.
The Wild have a 2.12 GF/60, 31st in the NHL. The Wild are not giving their goaltender any goal support or sustained time in the offensive zone.
They have no choice but to lean on Gus while his elite play continues.
However, Minnesota’s history regarding running goaltenders into the ground isn’t kind. Devan Dubnyk started at least 60 games in four seasons during the late 2010s. With the Wild needing him to steal games for them, they had no other choice on who to play. With all his mileage, Dubnyk often struggled to maintain his elite regular-season form in the playoffs.
Dubnyk never played in a second-round series for Minnesota.
Gustavsson has had his fair share of ups and downs in a Wild uniform. His first season in Minnesota was fantastic, but he looked much more human in his second when his save percentage dropped below .900. However, Gus has played his best this season.
We’ve seen Gustavsson stand on his head in the playoffs. The double-overtime game against the Dallas Stars two years ago was one of the best games I’ve seen from a backstopper ever. The problem was the Wild planned to use Fleury in the next game, and Dallas scored seven goals on him.
With more experience and games under his belt, the Wild have put more weight on Gus’s shoulder and expect him to carry this team while Kaprizov remains on the sidelines. Minnesota is playing poor defense and not scoring, yet they’ve stayed in the race.
The Wild have no choice but to ride the Filip Gustavsson roller coaster. Right now, that ride is going up. Now, the Wild will hold their breath until the fall.
All stats and data via Evolving Hockey, HockeyDB, CapWages, MoneyPuck, and Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.
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