Wild stick with Jesper Wallstedt despite rough start, and it pays off with victory over Blackhawks

Coach John Hynes knew the Wild needed to respond.

They were slower than the Chicago Blackhawks and sluggish, trailing 3-0 less than six minutes into the second period.

After the third goal, a shot off the rush goalie Jesper Wallstedt said he should stop nine times out of 10, Hynes could have pulled the rookie to issue a wake-up call to the players in front of him.

But he didn’t, and the decision paid off: Hynes saw the reaction the Wild had to have, and Wallstedt anchored the turnaround.

The Swedish Olympian was perfect the rest of the way, rattling off 17 consecutive saves before staying airtight in the shootout to backstop the Wild to a 4-3 comeback against the Blackhawks on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at Grand Casino Arena that was quintessential Wallstedt.

“That’s something that you want to see from a goaltender,” Hynes said. “I think it’s important for him to push through that, but it’s important for him in the relationship with the team that he’s going to hang in there and continue to battle.

“He made some huge, huge saves for us and competed, and that’s what you need. That kind of galvanizes the team a bit, as well, and I thought the group fed off of that, and then we pushed back and found a way to get it done.”

In his first appearance, the Wild coughed up a 3-0 lead to Los Angeles on Oct. 13 on a last-minute goal in the third period. But Wallstedt had three saves in overtime before going 4-for-4 in the shootout to cap off a 4-3 victory.

Actually, Wallstedt has had a knack for resetting throughout his budding NHL career. His resilience remains on display in how he’s rebounded from a poor performance last season in the minors to splitting starts with Filip Gustavsson and being named alongside Gustavsson to Sweden’s Olympic team.

“I always say the experiences I had last year were meant to happen,” Wallstedt said. “It only made me stronger. The ups and downs I go through this year are easier to go through when I’ve been through stuff before.”

There haven’t been many lulls for Wallstedt in his first full-time stint with the Wild.

The 23-year-old didn’t lose in regulation until his 11th game, his 10-game point streak tied for the fourth longest by a rookie goalie in NHL history. He became only the second rookie in the last five years to go on a win streak of at least seven games, his run in November and December including four shutouts; two were back-to-back, the 175 minutes, 12 seconds he went without getting scored on stretching over four games.

“I feel like my game is still in a good spot,” said Wallstedt, who’s 13-5-4 with a 2.71 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. “I felt like I’ve been still playing good hockey, even though more pucks have gone in than earlier. I don’t think my game has been essentially in a bad spot or anything, but obviously you’d like to save more pucks.”

But when it mattered most against the Blackhawks, Wallstedt did make the saves.

He blocked 11 shots on the penalty kill, with four of Chicago’s five power plays coming after the Blackhawks’ three goals. Their last power play was a 4-on-3 chance the final 1:56 of overtime, and Wallstedt didn’t flinch — turning aside three tries from Connor Bedard and two by Frank Nazar to finish the game with 29 stops.

“He saved us,” said Joel Eriksson Ek, who was also key to the rally by scoring after Yakov Trenin and then assisting on captain Jared Spurgeon’s equalizer with 2:02 to go in the third period. “They had a lot of chances to get a fourth one. That would have been an even bigger uphill [climb]. So, yeah, I think he came up big when we really needed it.”

Bedard and Nazar got do-overs in the shootout, but Nazar went wide and Bedard fumbled his attempt.

“We tend to find a way and never give up,” said Wallstedt, who has helped the Wild cultivate that identity by being the same way.

“The fact that he can hang in there and continue to fight, I think, is a really good sign of his mental toughness,” Hynes said. “But also, as I said, I think it’s important in that relationship with the goaltender and the team that he’s not going to give in even though a couple goals went in or maybe a bad one went in.