DALLAS — On an otherwise imperfect evening, Minnesota Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt was perfect when it counted. He made 31 saves in regulation and in overtime, as the Wild saw a 3-0 lead slip away, but prevailed in a shootout for a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Monday at Grand Casino Arena.
Settling into the backup role behind Filip Gustavsson, Wallstedt foiled shootout attempts by Adrian Kempe, Trevor Moore, Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko of Los Angeles, offering a celebratory punch of his blocker hand after the last one, which got the Wild their first home win of the season.
With that much success versus the four Kings, it was as if the Minnesota scouting staff had Wallstedt well-prepared for what might be coming. Not so, said the 22-year-old Swede. While there are plenty of scouting reports available, he doesn’t like to spend too much time with them.
“I had no idea. I like to keep it that way. A clean slate. Just go out, make the read, play off your feet and what you see,” Wallstedt said after his first career shootout win.
Following Wallstedt’s save on former Wild forward Fiala, Marco Rossi scored for Minnesota, setting up the goalie’s chance to clinch the two points.
“And then we scored, I just thought to myself, ‘This is the moment you’ve been dreaming for. You have the chance to win it for your team. Just go out and make the save the same way I’ve been doing it three shots before,’ ” Wallstedt said. “Obviously, that happened.”
His decision to eschew the shootout scouting reports and rely on skills and instincts is not uncommon among some of the better goalies in the NHL. Dallas puck-stopper Jake Oettinger, the Lakeville native who splits his summer time between his hometown and a western Wisconsin cabin, said you can over-think things if you know too much about the shooters.
“I used to look at a sheet of what everyone used to do, and I think that kind of got in my head a little bit,” Oettinger said after the Stars’ morning skate on Tuesday. “I would be not even reading the play, just kind of what their tendencies were.”
Oettinger won his first shootout of the season in Dallas’ second game, at Colorado, and said that his gut feelings and athleticism are the keys to the one-on-one contests that determine an extra point when games are tied after 65 minutes.
“Now, I just try to be an athlete and read the play and have fun,” he said. “I think I’ve done pretty well in shootouts since then.”
Wary of the Wild power play
The Stars were off on Monday and had a chance to watch the Wild’s win Monday. Like most in the NHL, they have taken note of Minnesota’s seven power-play goals over the course of two games while preparing for their head-to-head meeting on Tuesday night in Texas.
“We saw the three (goals) last night. They’re on a roll,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan, back for his second stint with the team in the wake of Peter DeBoer dismissal after last season. “It’s like anything else, when you get hot, you get hot. So, we’ve got a good penalty kill, but they’ve got some special players.”
The Dallas players said the most important approach was to simply stay out of the penalty box versus Minnesota.
“Every game you want to be smart, you don’t want to take any unnecessary penalties, but especially against a team that’s been buzzing on the power play early on,” said Stars center Wyatt Johnston. “You’ve got to be really smart with all the little stuff.”
Briefly
Minnesota made a potential bottom-six change on Tuesday, with a five-game road trip upcoming. After getting his first two NHL games at center on the Wild’s fourth line, rookie Hunter Haight was sent down to Iowa, and the Wild recalled Ben Jones to fill that spot. Jones, 26, began this season with Iowa. He logged 26 games for Minnesota last season but did not record a NHL point.
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