Minnesota Wild Gameday Playoff Preview Game 2 vs. the Avalanche – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

Anyone who watched Game 1 of the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche Round 2 series was probably excited and confused at what they witnessed. There was plenty of goal scoring as there were 15 goals combined, and obviously not a lot of defense. The Wild were on the losing end, and while they had some areas to fix in their game, they still attempted to mount a comeback and nearly accomplished it. 

They came up short but showed they are able to compete with the Avalanche, and they learned what works and what doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to see what choices the Wild make going forward, as they are still without Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek, plus they have a couple of gametime decisions as well. In this article, we’ll look at a quick preview of Game 2, starting with the goaltending. 

Wild Switch Goaltenders 

After their 9-6 loss in Game 1, it was clear their goaltender, Jesper Wallstedt, struggled in that game, but so did Scott Wedgewood for the Avalanche. Giving up six or eight goals, at that point, it doesn’t matter; neither goaltender is having a great night. Wallstedt had a strong series against the Stars, and in the one game he struggled, his teammates stepped up and filled the gap. 

Against the Avalanche, both the Wild’s goaltending and defense struggled, which is what led to the loss. Following Game 1, there were a lot of questions, understandably, circulating about whether they would pull Wallstedt and go with Filip Gustavsson. They didn’t announce anything until the morning skate before Game 2, when they announced they were switching to Gustavsson.  

“…We’ve had two very good goalies all year long, Gus (Gustavsson) has played a lot of good hockey for us, Wally’s (Wallstedt) taken the brunt of the playoffs, he’s played seven straight games, played very well, with the quick turnaround at the end of the series to come to Colorado. We have confidence in both of our goalies, they’re both excellent, they both played really good hockey, we believe in either one of them can win us a game and I think it’s a good opportunity to get Gus in the net, he’s hungry to get in. I think he dealt with not playing for a while, obviously Wally played very well, our team won and continued to go through, but we got another excellent goalie that’s hungry to get back in the net,” said head coach John Hynes in his press conference on Wild.com following morning skate when asked about the switch. 

Wild’s Goaltending Switch Pros & Cons 

Making lineup decisions isn’t always easy, especially when it comes to goaltending in the postseason. It is true that the Wild have two very capable goaltenders, and they went with Wallstedt originally because he finished the season stronger than Gustavsson, and it made sense, although he didn’t have the experience. However, he’d never get the experience unless he played, and he stepped up big in the big pressure moment to earn the net at that time for the foreseeable future. 

Now to the Colorado series, and everyone knows what happened in Game 1. Many on social media demanded the Wild take Wallstedt out and put Gustavsson in, but there were also a handful who believed they should stay with Wallstedt. It’s easy to see both sides of the argument, especially with keeping Wallstedt in the net. He had one rough game, and many times, coaches will go back to that goaltender to give them a chance to bounce back and show what they can do, especially a goaltender like Wallstedt. 

It’s a learning experience, and it’s a long series which can also be the argument for bringing in Gustavsson. Although he’s been on the bench for a while, as Hynes said above, his play earlier in the regular season earned him a chance in the postseason, and that “he’s hungry to get in”. The one very solid point that Hynes made later in his press conference is that they’ve rotated their goaltenders so both are ready for these types of situations. No matter what decision is made, there will be critics of it, which comes with sports; however, this one does turn a lot of heads. 

In the past, the Wild have been criticized for refusing to make lineup changes when they were behind in the postseason. Then, in a different postseason when they decided to make a change, it was a very questionable one because they pulled Gustavsson back in the 2023 postseason after he had a phenomenal game. So Wild fans have seen both sides of these changes, and although this goaltending switch makes a bit more sense than in 2023, it’s still questionable. Hopefully Gustavsson is up to the challenge and will help the Wild secure a split on the road. 

Wild Have to be Different 

It was said in their postgame takeaways following Game 1 that the Wild can’t play the same style they played against the Stars. The Avalanche are a skating team and were one of the least physical during the regular season, with 1,360 hits to the Wild’s 1,742, and the same can be said in the playoffs, with the Avalanche’s 135 hits to the Wild’s 243. Now, Game 1 was a bit of a flip as the Avalanche outhit the Wild 26-24, but that won’t be the norm, and neither will the 15 combined goals. 

It may seem like an advantage for the Wild to be more physical and slow the Avalanche down, but it will only work for a short time. The Avalanche have a lot of speed and will work their way around the hits; the Wild also have a lot of speed and need to utilize it. The Wild have the benefit of being able to play more than one style of game; their gameplay is a mix of everything, and they can change how they use their skills. 

Against the Stars, they turned up the physicality to combat their opponents, but they kept their speed going as well. Now they’ll have to do the opposite and turn up their speed with a little less physicality. Of course, a well-timed, clean hit can do wonders in terms of momentum, but they have to be smart. 

While the main storyline will be the goaltending, it’ll be interesting to see if the Wild’s offense can continue to put up the numbers and how they’ll adjust their style from Game 1. Hopefully, the Wild can flip the script and get the win in Game 2.