Wallstedt’s 1st NHL playoff experience ‘so much fun’

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jesper Wallstedt gets it now.

He still can't say exactly why the Stanley Cup Playoffs are different than the regular season, can't quite put his finger on a reason other than the stakes are higher, because, as he previously noted, it's still the same ice, same boards, same players, coaches, systems, everything.

But the Minnesota Wild's 23-year-old rookie goalie, after playing six games against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference First Round, winning four with 22 saves in the series-clinching 5-2 win in Game 6 at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday, now gets why everyone raves about playoff hockey in the NHL.

"It's pretty freaking fun," Wallstedt said. "It's completely different from the regular season. It's been, what, four years since I was in playoffs. It's been so much fun."

It has to be when you play like Wallstedt has so far in his maiden voyage into the NHL postseason.

He has won three games in a row, and in six games against the Stars posted a 2.05 goals-against average and .924 save percentage, stopping 171 of 185 shots, including 22 of 24 on Thursday, when the Wild won a playoff series for the first time since 2015.

They will play the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

"He was pretty special this series," Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said. "He made some big saves, some timely saves."

As Hughes noted, it wasn't just the saves, it was when Wallstedt made the saves throughout the series, and especially in Game 6.

His biggest came with 10:38 remaining in the third period, when it was 2-2, the game up for grabs and the Stars pushing.

Wallstedt came across his crease from his left to right and positioned himself perfectly to stop Colin Blackwell's 35-foot shot that came off a Minnesota defensive zone turnover.

"If they score there, 3-2, it's a different game, but I get that save and obviously we score pretty quick after," Wallstedt said. "But that's my job. My job is to come up with the saves when they're needed."

Hughes scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal 66 seconds later, his second goal and third point in his master-class performance.

But that doesn't happen without Wallstedt's read on Blackwell's Grade A scoring chance.

"First I thought it was more of a 2-on-1 kind of, and I was challenging the first shooter pretty hard," Wallstedt said. "And then he kind of stopped up, so I tried to get back to the post. Obviously, as soon as the pass goes over I just have to get there as quick as possible and get set. I felt like I was in good position where the save looked easy, hit me in the chest and I can scrape in the rebound."

He did it so calmly, covering the puck with his glove to stop the clock with 10:25 remaining, getting to the pre-scheduled media timeout, allowing the Wild time to regroup, which they clearly did so effectively.

"He was terrific," Hughes said. "I feel really confident in him. He's kind of got this swagger it feels like a little bit. Maybe you can call it ice in his veins. For him to show out like he did was impressive."

It was especially impressive because two weeks ago Wallstedt had no idea what this was all about.

He was named the Wild's starting goalie the day before Game 1, a surprise move considering he was considered the No. 2 behind Filip Gustavsson for most of the season, starting 33 games to Gustavsson's 49.

Game 1, in fact, was his first postseason game of any kind since playing two games for the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League's Calder Cup Playoffs in 2023, when he was 20 years old.

Then came last season, when Wallstedt slumped in the AHL, looking nothing like the star goalie he's becoming right before our very eyes in the NHL.

But that's forgotten now, history, because that was all before Wallstedt fully understood what the Stanley Cup Playoffs are about and what he's capable of doing in them.

Now, he gets it, and it's pretty freaking obvious.

"To think that he's only 23 and to handle the pressure and play big like he did," Hughes said, "we're going to need him to continue to do that, but for the next couple of years he'll be pretty scary I think."