Stalock, who began his hockey playing career in South St. Paul as a forward before transitioning to the crease, has always had an aggressive, puck-playing style. Even in his days at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Stalock would often leave his crease to chase down a puck and set up his teammates going the other way.
That was certainly the case in overtime on Saturday.
Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman sent a lengthy pass in the direction of Nikita Kucherov through the neutral zone, one that was just past the winger's reach. With Ryan Suter retreating, most goaltenders would have been happy with an icing call and an offensive zone faceoff.
Instead, Stalock left his crease to play the puck, settling it with Kucherov applying immediate pressure. Stalock flipped the puck off the right-wing glass to Charlie Coyle at the nearside blueline.
Because Tampa Bay's other skater had gone to the bench, the Wild suddenly had a 2-on-1 the other way.
"It's 3-on-3 and if we can get an odd man rush we have to do it I think because we're creating an odd man chance versus getting a faceoff in their zone," Stalock said. "I'd take an odd-man rush over an offensive zone faceoff any day and that's what we had."