The Wild Need More From Their Goaltending Duo

When the Minnesota Wild was sitting atop the NHL standings at the beginning of December, Kirill Kaprizov made headlines for being a Hart Trophy candidate. While Kaprizov did a lot of heavy lifting, the Wild's goaltenders deserved much of the credit. Filip Gustavsson appeared to be a Vezina Trophy candidate, while Marc-Andre Fleury provided solid, if not spectacular, goaltending as the backup.

However, recently, the Wild haven't looked like the team they did at the start of the year. Injuries to Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin, and Joel Eriksson Ek have contributed to this. Still, just as the team succeeded earlier in the season partly because of strong goaltending, its faltering now is also the product of increased inconsistency in net.

Wild Need More Consistency From Their Goaltenders

The Wild depend on opportunistic scoring while playing solid defensively and preventing goals. That playstyle produces excellent results when the goalies are playing well. Minnesota was among the best teams in the league when their goalies were performing to their potential. However, when that doesn't happen, the Wild can't outscore their problems. 

Since the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Wild have three wins and five losses while only scoring 15 goals. That pace of 1.875 goals per game would be last in the NHL. It’s also nearly a goal per game behind the Wild's 2.79 season average.

That doesn't mean goaltending hasn't been an issue, though. In the Wild's last eight games, they've given up 25 goals (3.125 goals against per game). That would rank 23rd in the league, far worse than their season average of 2.86.

The team can't win with key players injured unless their goaltenders stand on their heads. In recent games, Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson haven’t held up that end of the game. 

Diminishing Returns

Filip Gustavsson was one of Minnesota's most exciting stories early in the season. By mid-December, Gustavsson was 14-5-3 with a 2.24 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.

However, things haven't been looking as good since December for the Wild's primary starter. A brief injury limited his game time in December, and his play has regressed since then. Gustavsson had a .882 save percentage in January. He logged a .900 save percentage in February and had a poor showing at the 4 Nations Face-Off. In his last five games, he's been tremendous – or a key reason the Wild lost games.

The NHL defines a quality start as a goaltender having a higher save percentage in a game than the league average save percentage for the season. The average save percentage in the NHL is .901 this year. Since the start of 2025, Gustavsson has made 16 starts for the Wild, and only six have been quality starts.

Gustavsson has always been streaky, so this development isn't shocking. He also has a more significant workload this year than he ever has, already starting in 42 games and poised to surpass his previous high of 43. Therefore, the Wild would benefit more from leaning on some of their other goaltenders.

Marc-Andre Fleury is having some consistency issues himself. That's to be expected, given he's 40 years old and will retire in the offseason. Despite his age, Fleury has still performed adequately as a backup. His .904 save percentage is above league average, and his .923 mark in January was helpful given Gustavsson's struggles. Still, his inconsistent play makes it difficult to depend on him. Using the quality starts metric, he's been productive for the Wild in 3 of his last six starts. 

Fleury's performance is less crucial, given he’s the backup. He's done his job as long as he isn't actively costing the Wild games. Still, between his and Gustavsson's recent play, you never know what you'll get. That isn't sustainable for Minnesota's success in a system that requires limiting goals.

Analyzing Minnesota Wild Goaltending

The Wild can’t depend on their goaltending. Gustavsson and Fleury have had good games recently, but they've struggled more often. Let's dig into why. 

Let’s start with the games since the 4 Nations Cup concluded, in which the Wild have gone 3-5. When a team's goaltenders aren't performing well, we must look at how the defense performs in front of them for context.

According to moneypuck.com, the Wild have allowed 15 high-danger shot attempts in the last eight games. That 1.875 high-danger shot attempts per game is a bit higher than their 1.66 season average, but six of those high-danger shot attempts came in one game. The Wild are still doing a good job limiting high-danger chances. They're second-best in the league in that category. 

However, the defense has had an issue with giving up medium-danger shot attempts. Over those eight games, the Wild have allowed 7.75 medium-danger shot attempts per game, which would rank as the worst in the NHL over an entire season. Giving up so many shots from areas of the ice that aren't exactly lethal but are still quality attempts would lead to more goals and make the goaltenders' job much harder.

The Wild defenders could better limit those chances. Still, Minnesota’s goalies have given up eight low-danger shot attempt goals in the eight-game sample.

Let's look at the Wild's matchup with the Colorado Avalanche on February 28 to understand how that can affect a game. The Wild were up 2-1 in the second period in a crucial matchup with Colorado. The Avalanche scored on a shot from Jonathan Drouin with a .07 expected goal percentage. Moments later, Jack Drury scored on Gustavsson on a shot with a .05 expected goals rate. 

By the end of the game, Gustavsson had given up two low-danger shot attempt goals and had a -2.11 goals saved above expected rating.

The Wild can’t give up goals like that at this crucial juncture in the season. Of course, the expected goals stat isn't always fair. For example, this goal Gustavsson gave up against the Seattle Kraken.

https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1897145264164446231

According to the location on the ice, that shot only had a 4% chance of scoring, but Jon Merrill screening Gustavsson made it a difficult save. The Wild have had issues giving their goaltenders clean looks at shots recently. 

The Wild could help their goaltenders by clearing the crease of opposing players a bit more or not screening their own goalie, like on the Larsson goal. Minnesota must make defensive improvements that would go a long way toward helping the Wild’s netminders succeed. But Gustavsson and Fleury must also uphold their end of the bargain. Recently, they've had too many lapses in concentration and given up too many easy goals. 

These issues need to be solved now. With the Wild struggling to score, their season could depend on it.