Wallstedt makes his case as Wild win regular-season finale
The Minnesota Wild will be rested and generally healthy when they open the playoffs, most likely on Saturday, in Dallas. They will bring perhaps their most talented team in franchise history to North Texas with, perhaps, just one looming question mark about their postseason lineup. And that question, regarding who will start in goal versus the Stars in Game 1, may have gotten bigger and more complicated in the Wild’s regular-season finale.
Rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt put on a show, stopping all but two of Anaheim’s 36 shots as the Wild rallied for a 3-2 win on Fan Appreciation Night at Grand Casino Arena. Trailing 1-0 early, the Wild got goals from Danila Yurov, Robby Fabbri and Hunter Haight — his first in the NHL — to finish the regular season with a 46-24-12 record, good for 104 points in the standings. But the story of the night was Wallstedt, who played the first period wearing a jersey with “WALLSTEAD” on the back, although the spelling error did little to dampen his handiwork.
As coach John Hynes ponders his Game 1 starter, the recent numbers will show that Wallstedt has allowed a total of four goals in his final two regular-season starts, while veteran Filip Gustavsson has been touched for 10 in the same span. Anaheim, which has qualified for the playoffs but does not yet have its opponent set, opened the scoring on a power-play goal midway through the first period. The Wild responded with Yurov’s second goal in as many nights, a close-range shot that trickled past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal.
The goal was significant, if for no other reason than it meant for the first time in franchise history, the Wild went an entire regular season without being shut out. Dating back to last season, they have now tied a franchise record by scoring at least one goal in 93 consecutive regular-season games. Yurov had a golden opportunity to give Minnesota its first lead near the midway point of the game with a breakaway from the far blue line, but he was foiled by a left pad save.
Instead, it was Haight, after a perfect set-up pass from Nick Foligno, popping a wrist shot past the Anaheim goalie’s glove to put the Wild up. Shown on the arena’s video board sporting a huge smile, Haight received a loud ovation when his first goal was announced. Haight briefly looked to have gotten the first of his career on Monday night in St.