Rest, regrouping could help Wild against Avalanche in Game 3, Boucher says

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Three full days between Games 2 and 3 in the Western Conference Second Round could be the best medicine for the Minnesota Wild, according to TNT broadcast anaylst Brian Boucher.

The obvious reason is rest, especially for defensemen Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber, who averaged 28:32 and 27:01 of ice time, respectively, in Games 1 and 2 against the Colorado Avalanche, 9-6 and 5-2 losses that have Minnesota trailing 2-0 in the best-of-7 series.

Hughes and Faber are among the many Wild players who have not skated since the defeat in Game 2 at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday. The Wild likely will have a full team practice Friday before hosting Game 3 at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN1, SN, TVAS, CBC).

The extra time between games also means center Joel Eriksson Ek and/or defenseman Jonas Brodin could be healthy enough to return to the Minnesota lineup.

Each missed Games 1 and 2 with a lower-body injury sustained in the first round against the Dallas Stars. Neither has skated since the second round began, but coach John Hynes said Thursday that does not mean they will be ruled out for Game 3.

"The hole of Eriksson Ek is a big one," said Boucher, who will broadcast Game 3 with Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk. "It seems to have thrown off (forward Matt) Boldy a little bit, at least from what I can gather. The loss of Brodin has forced them to have to play Faber and Hughes a lot. But in saying that, maybe the three days off came at the right time. You kind of get a reset, regroup."

The Wild also can take time to re-evaluate their goaltending situation, because it did not go well in Games 1 and 2 with Jesper Wallstedt (eight goals on 42 shots in Game 1) and Filip Gustavsson (four goals on 22 shots in Game 2) combining to give up 12 goals on 64 shots.

Minnesota switched to the more-seasoned Gustavsson for Game 2 after Wallstedt, the 23-year-old rookie, was the Wild's starting goalie for the first seven games of the playoffs, including all six against the Stars in the first round.

Hynes said Thursday the Wild have not decided on their starting goalie for Game 3.

Boucher said he believes it will be Wallstedt, and that it should have been the rookie in Game 2 as well.

"I don't know that I really agreed with starting Gustavsson in Game 2," Boucher said. "Remember the (Washington) Capitals (in the 2018 playoffs) when they started (Philipp) Grubauer and then they went to (Braden) Holtby? I always feel it's easier to do that, to start the kid and then go to the veteran when you're down and he should be able to figure it out. But reading the tea leaves, it didn't sound like Gustavsson handled not playing very well, and now I wonder where Wallstedt is at. It's tough to ask a kid to rebound after that."

Wallstedt earned the Game 1 start through his performance in the first round, winning four of six games with a 2.05 goals-against average and .924 save percentage for Minnesota. 

Boucher said he thought Gustavsson looked slow in his 2026 postseason debut, that he was behind the play, and didn't seem fully prepared for the high-speed action of playoff hockey, having not started since April 13 in a 6-3 win at the St. Louis Blues, who didn't make the playoffs.

Gustavsson allowed goals on the first two shots he faced, and the backbreaker was forward Nicolas Roy's goal that made it 3-1 at 1:24 of the second period, a snap shot from left hash marks that beat the goalie on his blocker side.

Gustavsson himself admitted he was too slow to react to Roy's shot.

Following the game, he said he felt, "Just fine. Nothing special. Not bad. Not good."

Boucher said he didn't like Gustavsson's demeanor, a reason for why he believes Wallstedt will start Game 3. However, he also said going back to Wallstedt puts the rookie in a strange situation, having to come back into the same series he was pulled from only to now have to help his team save its season.

"If it was a different team and a different arc of their trajectory I would say this is a great situation for a young player to learn on the fly," Boucher said, "but for Minnesota this is about winning. It's not about getting experience. If he was on the Philadelphia Flyers, then I would say this is a great experience for him because they've got many years to go. But I feel for Minnesota, the decisions they make right now are for now. 

"For Wallstedt it is going to be a great experience for him and I think he's going to be a very good goalie, but it just seems like an odd situation to be in. I would have played him in Game 2 to see if he could bounce back. That would have been the great test to see, what is this kid's mental toughness when it didn't go his way? Can he rebound? And then I think you go to the veteran. That's all I was thinking. But we'll see if he can bounce back." 

That's why the three days between games and five days between starts could be exactly what Wallstedt and the Wild need to avoid a 3-0 series deficit Saturday.

"Five days for him is a really good period to reset, regroup, get a breather, figure out how you can get your game back in order and get the rest that's needed to have a quality game," Boucher said. "Any time you're down in a series your urgency level and your desperation level goes up, so you can lean on that. 

"The other thing is you're coming home. It's not like you lost two at home and now you're going on the road and it feels like a daunting task. If there is any type of reassurance it's that you're coming home, you've had three days to regroup, digest and maybe make some adjustments that can work in your favor."