Takeaways: Wild blank Ducks behind Jesper Wallstedt’s second consecutive shutout

The Wild defeating the Ducks at full strength would have been commendable.

That they were better while not being 100% was downright impressive.

In another show of progress for their net-out defending, the Wild blanked upstart Anaheim 2-0 Saturday night at Grand Casino Arena to continue their own resurgence: They have won three of their past four games and five of the past seven while losing in regulation only once in that stretch.

Jesper Wallstedt stopped all 28 shots he faced for back-to-back shutouts to lead the NHL with two.

Wallstedt was coming off a 36-save, 2-0 victory over the Flames on Sunday and hasn’t given up a goal in 141 minutes, 9 seconds.

“It feels really good,” said Wallstedt, who is much more reminiscent of the technically savvy goaltender the Wild drafted following a difficult 2024-25 season in the minors. “It’s obviously a big difference from what I experienced last year and changes the whole mood and my whole lifestyle outside of hockey, as well.

“It’s so much more fun right now going to work than it was 12 months ago.”

Marco Rossi is out week-to-week with a nagging lower-body injury, and Vladimir Tarasenko was missing after suffering a lower-body injury at practice Friday. The Wild filled out their forward lines with Ben Jones and Liam Ohgren after calling him up from the American Hockey League.

But the Wild did get Jake Middleton back on defense after he sat out two games sick.

“We know how good they are, how skilled they are, so we had a pretty clear game plan of what we wanted to do,” Johansson said, “and for the most part we executed it pretty well. Then when we didn’t, Wally was standing on his head. So, that always helps.”

With Anaheim’s yearslong rebuild finally kicking into overdrive, the Ducks are the second-highest scoring team in the NHL, but they didn’t look like it.

Their early rhythm was interrupted by two Mason McTavish high sticks, the latter a four-minute penalty that forced Danila Yurov out of the action for part of the first period after Yurov was clipped up high. The Wild didn’t take advantage on those three power plays or a fourth in the second, but they were still testing Anaheim; a point-blank save on Kirill Kaprizov in tight was one of goalie Petr Mrazek’s better stops of his 28 overall.

“We had a lot of good commitment, not just in our own end,” coach John Hynes said. “One of the things we really emphasized was our up ice, our forecheck, our offensive zone play, being above people. I thought we did a good job.”

Late in the second period, the Ducks began to pick up the pace, but Wallstedt didn’t waver.

He denied Cutter Gauthier and stopped Frank Vatrano on a two-on-one. Daemon Hunt also made a key contribution, breaking up Beckett Sennecke’s chance at a breakaway with a slick backcheck.

Again, during the third period, Anaheim had to take a back seat to another four-minute penalty for high sticking, but the Wild remained out-of-sync and finished 0-for-7. Zeev Buium prevented the Ducks from getting a shot off during a shorthanded two-on-one on the Wild’s last look.

“It’s frustrating, for sure, especially in a game like that,” Buium said. “You have so many power plays, so many opportunities to kind of put the game away in a sense. If we score on two or three of those, it’s a different game.”

“We’ve been trending in the right direction,” Johansson said of the penalty kill, which is on a 16-for-17 run, “and it’s fun to see because it can win a lot of games for you.”

BOXSCORE: Wild 2, Anaheim 0

NHL standings

Going back to the Wild’s 5-2 victory over the Islanders on Nov. 7, Wallstedt has saved 71 consecutive shots over his past three starts.

This was a statement game by the Wild, because of the outcome as much as the circumstances.

“He was on IVs prior to the game,” Hynes said. “So, I give him a lot of credit to gut it out to play.”

Although the team’s output lately has been timid, they were beginning to find some cohesion with their lines.

But the revised look wasn’t much of an issue because of how steady the Wild have been in front of their net.

They’ve capitalized first in a franchise-record eight straight games and by not trailing, the Wild have been able to stay true to their structure and avoid the defensive meltdowns that cost them earlier in the season.

“It’s not an area of the game where you’re going to play on instincts, right?” Hynes said. “When you’re in your own end ... that’s an area where you can’t go rogue. You need to make sure that it’s five guys doing their job and committing, and then I think we’ve done a little bit better job as of late here with our up-ice structure, not giving teams easy offense to put us on our heels.”

He even considered attempting a shot at the empty net before looking up and seeing “a wall in front of me of guys coming at me. I kind of realized that wouldn’t be a good play.”

Regardless, the night was a success.

“Obviously, keeping goals low is a team result,” said Wallstedt, who has a 2.10 goals-against average and .924 save percentage and is the first rookie and youngest goalie (23 years old) in Wild history to post consecutive shutouts. “It’s something we’re doing as a team. If we can limit scoring chances and [are] blocking shots and taking away sticks and boxing out, obviously my record will look good. But at the end of the day, it’s a team result. We’re doing it all together.”