Wilderness Walk: Gustavsson good

When the Minnesota Wild traded Cam Talbot in exchange for Filip Gustavsson we all knew it was technically a downgrade, based on the pure fact that the younger incoming goaltender was inexperienced. Even though Talbot was unhappy in Minnesota, we at least knew what he was capable of being in the crease.

Thankfully, Gustavsson is appearing more comfortable, especially now that he has his first win as a member of the Wild after Wednesday night’s victory.

“It was a mental relief to get the first win,” said Gustavsson. “We had a tough start as a goalie pair the first three games with a lot of goals. Then Fleury stepped up and got some success, and my success has waited until now. Now I finally got a win.”

We love to get rewarded with that plus in the win column.

Now in his four appearances for Minnesota, Gustavsson has earned a .904 save percentage and a 3.10 goals against average. Not to cherry-pick any stats, but if you take out his debut, where he had to come in for a floundering Fleury against the Los Angeles Kings, the 24-year-old goalie suddenly has a .915 save percentage and a 2.67 goals against average. Basically, a decent NHL goaltender. Time will tell, though.

That’s Wild

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