Wild top Flames 2-0 behind Jesper Wallstedt's 36-save shutout

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 9, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild felt rookie Jesper Wallstedt deserved to stay in the net, and Wallstedt rewarded them for that decision.

In a battle of the backups, Wallstedt narrowly edged out the Flames’ Devin Cooley by blanking Calgary 2-0 Sunday night at Grand Casino Arena with 36 saves.

It was Wallstedt’s first shutout of the season and second in his 10-game NHL career.

He was starting consecutive games for the first time after helping the Wild to a 5-2 victory at the New York Islanders on Friday.

Matt Boldy settled the goaltending duel in the second period before Kirill Kaprizov scored his team-leading 10th goal in an empty net to ruin the Flames’ third-period comeback attempt.

Marcus Johansson assisted on Boldy’s goal to extend his career-best point streak to nine games while playing in his 1,000th game.

Overall, the Wild have won four of their past five games to gain some separation from their early woes.

How it happened

Goaltending doesn’t look like the problem for the last-place Flames.

Cooley matched Wallstedt save for save through the first period, with some of Cooley’s sharpest work denying Ryan Hartman in tight and gloving down a Jonas Brodin shot after Hartman skated in on a breakaway and handed off to Vinnie Hinostroza, who dropped the puck to Brodin.

Wallstedt was just as airtight, with one of his better sequences stopping Jonathan Huberdeau on a breakaway in the second.

Calgary did one puck behind Wallstedt, but the goal was immediately waved off because the Flames had too many men on the ice. That gave the Wild one of their four power plays, which were unsuccessful, although one opportunity was only four seconds.

Turning point

The Wild finally made good on a bona fide look vs. Cooley after a stretch pass from captain Jared Spurgeon set the Wild up in a 3-on-2 attack that saw Johansson thread the puck to a net-crashing Boldy for a five-hole finish 13 minutes, 47 seconds into the second period.

Johansson is up to 11 points during his nine-point tear, and he became only the fourth Wild player to pick up a point in his 1,000th game; Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter and Matt Cullen are the others.

In the third period, the Wild faced Calgary’s power play twice and survived both chances to go 3 for 3 on the penalty kill.

The Wild are now 11 for 11 on the kill over their past five games despite missing PKer Jake Middleton on Sunday due to illness. David Jiricek subbed in on defense.

Kaprizov’s empty-netter came with 50 seconds left after the Flames kept Wallstedt busy; he had 12 stops in the third period alone.

Cooley totaled 17 saves.

Key stat

Wallstedt improved to 3-0-2 in his first season as the Wild’s backup to Filip Gustavsson.

What it means

If the Wild are really going to turn the corner on their dreadful start, they needed this game to sustain their momentum.

Calgary is in the basement of the NHL but would have been only three points back of the Wild with a regulation win. There wasn’t a drastic difference between these two teams on the ice, but there didn’t have to be for the Wild to succeed: Wallstedt was locked in, and the Wild capitalized on a breakdown in coverage by the Flames.

All of a sudden, the Wild have won more than they’ve lost in the last week-plus.

The schedule isn’t going to be as friendly the rest of this homestand, so that’s why it was important for the Wild to prevail in this matchup and get more reps in a stingier style that clicks for them.

Up next

The Wild’s five-game homestand resumes Tuesday against the surging Sharks, who have stayed competitive since defeating the Wild in overtime last month.

San Jose is on a three-game win streak and has one of the top scorers in the league in Macklin Celebrini.

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