Goalie Filip Gustavsson’s 18 saves and Marcus Foligno’s empty-netter preserved earlier goals from captain Jared Spurgeon, Frederick Gaudreau and Joel Eriksson Ek as the Wild moved to 18-5-3 on the road.
The only game the Wild have won with Gustavsson as the starter during that stretch was a comeback win over the St. Louis Blues, when he was pulled in favor of future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Filip Gustavsson has been better than most people's expectations this year after finishing last season with a .899 SV% and GAA of 3.06. His 14.8 goals saved above expected highlights his surprising improvement,
Gustavsson gave up two goals on 20 shots in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Blackhawks. The Wild led 3-0 after two periods, and while the Blackhawks made it interesting in the third, Gustavsson was able to protect the lead.
Kaprizov had a couple scoring chances for the Wild (28-16-4), who were delighted to get their superstar back after he missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for Utah (21-19-7) in what was just their second shutout win of the season.
The Blackhawks dropped to 1-4-3 in their last eight games. They lost three of four in the season series against the Wild. Minnesota jumped in front on Spurgeon's wrist shot from the high slot 5:43 into the first period. Gaudreau made it 2-0 when he beat Petr Mrazek on the goaltender's glove side from a tough angle at 7:17.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson looks back at the puck after a Utah goal in the second period Thursday at Xcel Energy Center. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
There won’t be another one like Marc-Andre Fleury. That’s the feeling of Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray and winger Ryan Reaves, who have had the pleasure of calling Fleury a teammate in the National Hockey League.
Welcome to the Weekly Rewind, a column published every Monday that recaps the past week of Minnesota Wild hockey, including the team’s record, players with the highest stats, and more. This week, we’ll be looking at how the Wild did from January 20 to 26, 2025.
It feels like forever ago that goaltender Filip Gustavsson was a Vezina Trophy contender. Suddenly, the Minnesota Wild don’t know which player is going to show up between the pipes on a nightly ...
After allowing just five shots in the first two periods, the Wild had to scramble to keep the lead against Chicago in a narrow 4-2 win.