CHICAGO – It wasn't just an eyesore loss that Jesper Wohlstedt brought back to Iowa when he returned to the minors after his goaltender was blitzed by the Stars in his NHL debut.
He also brought a lot of motivation.
“I was just hungry,” Wohlstedt said.
Almost four months later, the Wild's leading candidate is finally in action.
Wohlstedt became the first Wild goalie to earn his first career win with a shutout, stopping 24 shots to prevent the Wild from being eliminated from the playoffs in a 4-0 win over the Blackhawks at the United Center on Sunday. It became.
Wohlstedt, 21 years, 145 days old, became the youngest Wild netminder to record a shutout, surpassing Josh Harding (21 years, 297 days), who also had a shutout in his second appearance.
“It's just incredible to feel and see the work that I've put in since that day in Dallas, and the work that I've put in every day since then has really paid off,” Wallsted said. '' he said.
Wahlstedt, the Wild's 2021 first-round draft pick, and the Wild didn't look like the same team that lost 7-2 to the Stars on Jan. 10.
To be fair, Chicago is not Dallas, and both teams are on opposite ends of the Central Division. But the Wild kept their eyes peeled for Wahlstedt's restart after Wahlstedt was promoted from the American Hockey League on Saturday and will take part in a five-game road trip.
“For the first time, I think we let him down in that game, and I would never want that to happen to anyone,” Gaudreau said. “I think it was tough mentally because he didn't play in the NHL for a while after that. So coming here, of course everyone wanted to get better and stronger for him.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, not only did the Wild allow just five shots in the first period, but Wallstedt faced only four dangerous scoring chances all game.
The Wild also didn't commit a single penalty while returning forward Ryan Hartman (suspended) and defenseman Zach Bogosian (injured).
Kirill Kaprizov reached 41 points with two points in two consecutive games, making it his third consecutive 40-point season. He also added an assist on his 10th 3-pointer, moving him to seventh place in the team's total points with 323. point.
Kaprizov extended his point streak to seven games with one successful power play (1 of 2) just 1:06 into the second period.
Since Jan. 19, Kaprizov has scored a league-high 28 goals in 33 games.
At 12:30, he factored in a Mats Zuccarello feed for Marco Rossi's 21st goal, which Rossi buried to become the NHL rookie's leading scorer behind Connor Bedard of the Blackhawks.
Then, with 1:33 left in the second, Gaudreau chipped Bogosian.
Kaprizov scored again at 8:10 of the third, taking Brock Faber's drop pass past Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom, who had 33 saves.
As for Wallstedt, he was calm and collected.
And chat.
“He had confidence,” Faber said. “The way he communicated there, he was talking about it on the bench. It was like he'd been here a long time.”
Coach John Hines also noticed Wallstedt's confidence — “He looked really solid,” Hines said — but after returning to Iowa, he went 10-10-3. That's not the only thing that has changed for Wohlstedt, who made his mark in minutes.
“He was quick to get into position and set up there,” said Wohlstedt, whose father Jonas, mother Helena and girlfriend Erica were also in attendance. “That gives me more opportunities to make saves and more opportunities to control the saves.”
He feels he has become mentally stronger and has a better understanding of what it takes to keep his mind fresh during matches.
“There's a lot of effort that I put in, and I felt it on the field,” Wohlstedt said.
All of this turned out to be a great success, which satisfied Mr. Wohlstedt. But he is not satisfied.
“Every game that goes up here is a time to prove myself, show what I can do and show my growth through this period,” Wohlstedt said. He's here to prove he's ready and wants to play in this league. ”
