The Tape Room: Jesper Wallstedt has the Minnesota Wild rolling
Mike the get to the tape. Let’s dive into the tape. Mike with a yogger like salute. Roll the tape with a shot. Two goals for Mike. Look at him go. Tape the tape. Let’s diggity dive right into the tape. All right, we were talking um man this everybody’s so tight in the standings, especially in the East, but the West is pretty tight as well. I I was paying attention. There’s three teams in the Central that have been really hot and they’re not really gaining ground on each other cuz all three have been very hot. But they’re starting to get separation from the rest and that’s these three. The Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, and the Dallas Stars pretty impressive each one respect respectfully in their last 11 games as you can see right here. Boiler. Um, I’m not saying the Wild are like the Avalanche are like in their own their own galaxy right now. The Stars are at a different tier, but the Wild don’t sleep on them and what they’ve been doing and they’ve been getting some great goalending. But I want to go back to who they play tonight. They’re going to be playing against the Edmond Snowers. Let’s go to this trade details. This is always fun to do when you go back in time back July 23rd, 2021. There was a trade that happened and that first round pick that was sent to the Minnesota Wild ends up turning into Jasper Walstead. So, he has been that goalender. Now, he’s a goalender of the future. And the one thing I just want to tag real quick on this is think about this situation. He’s been the guy that they have Gustoson. They had Flurry. Yes. Flurry announces his retirement. You know, there’s an opportunity. He’s going to get every opportunity to play and be a part of the tandem this year. So, everything that I’ve heard, he came into camp in great shape. Got in there like the beginning of August in Minnesota, put in the time, made some adjustments to his game. He’s been very uh very disciplined in his approach and I think you’re seeing it and you’re not just seeing it with him but the Minnesota Wild as well. We look at their November since November first. I mean these stats are pretty spectacular. 6 and0 in this time got a number of shutouts right there with three. He’s fourth in goal save above expected in the National Hockey League. So I think the Minnesota Wild have gotten certainly better defensively. So that helps. And we were just talking about the Vegas Golden Knights and that just being a little more predictable for your goalenders. But this kid has come through in a big way. Uh it looks a little different though. And this is the part I want to do. We’re just going to get to the tape here. Some of these clips and and boiler, I didn’t tell you we’re doing this. We’re just going to show some miraculous saves, some great saves, like save of the year candidates that we’ve seen over last time. Yeah. And this is this this is the one thing. This is why I love watching. We love seeing these. There’s nothing wrong with any of these saves. They’re miraculous. It’s great. This is what we want to see as fans. But it also a lot of times when you have to see a save like this, a lot of times goalenders are out of position in the first place. And I give them a ton of credit for making those miraculous saves. Now, let’s park that because that’s not Walstead. He doesn’t get out of position. He looks very under control, calm. He looks very structured. He’s in a rocking chair. He’s in a rocking chair. But that’s what you want from your goalender. I think you just have command. And listen, you when you played and you played against a good the Carrie Price comes to mind with me. You come around, you have a great scoring chance, you shoot a puck and he’s in the net and it’s just like he barely moves and just catches it. Nothing surprises him. It plays with your psyche a little bit. It gets in your head like this guy. You’re throwing muffins at him. What is going on? Why is it so easy for this guy? Cory Schneider, he came to Boston College was the same thing. He he didn’t move like everyone else moved at the time. He was very compact and efficient. and you’re wondering like how am I going to beat this guy? No, it’s it’s a great point because when you have goalenders again that are diving across making these Superman saves, it’s awesome. But it also makes me feel as a player we’re on the run. We’re hanging on by a thread and that’s not the case in Minnesota cuz we’re going to look at the tape here on him. Boiler jump in any kind of uh graphics you want to put on this on the teleustrator because it’s just fun to watch. He makes very routine saves and just looks very under control, never slides outside his post. And I love the way he battles back to his feet all the time. So, you’re going to see him bring it back here a little bit. Right. All right. Right here. All right. Now, let’s go. Let’s go. Uh, let’s go slow. And I I said this we were watching the clips. Very robotic. Look. Turns. Gets his push across. He sets. Now, watch his shuffles. He’s going to shuffle to his right. Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle. Follow. And then you’re going to see him make that first save. Push to the middle. Pause it right here. Just square right in the middle of the ice. Right in the middle of the net, I should say. Like, look at this. Just comes across. Routine. It hits him. Bang. Makes that second save. And that puck goes into the corner. He’s got no issues there. That’s It’s going to happen. There’s going to be breakdowns. You have to be there for those constantly as easy as you can make them. As you watch this here, pay attention. Can we pause it? Can we bring it back just a little bit? All right. As and in slow motion, I want you just to take a peek right around here. This all I can’t do it like that, Robert. This is so hard to do with a goalie. Just watch this leg. All right. We’ll push through. He’s ready to push down and go across at the risk that is this Lowry come ac if he wants to come on his backhand and go. But he’s ready. He’s going to stay there. He’s going to take the original shot first. He’s not going to Hold on a second. He’s not going to anticipate a play and leave too early cuz he’s hoping. He’s going to wait. He’s patient. He’s confident and he makes that glove save look super easy. This This one intrigued you a lot. Yeah. Roll it forward. I think on the other reverse angle we’re going to see it. And it’s just his battle level, but he always just he’s just he battles to his feet. You’re gonna watch. He’s down. He’s back to his feet right here. He’s up and he resets just tracking all over. He gets piece of alough. Gets a little help here by Broaddin in front. And that’s what I love. He’s patient, but he also battles to get back to his feet and he resets all the time. So every new shot feels like a different shot. He’s not scrambling ever. Looking very under control. I love this stuff with him. And just in like right there, that puck’s in front of the net. You’ve got Sebastian Aaho in front with you. It’s kind of like a shot pass. He just looks so calm. You’re not even like there’s no wasted movement at all. Eats it. Boom. Efficiency. This is the one I love the most. And we’re going to pause it. I think we got this one. I want to point out this part real quick. Watch how long see how long he’s on his feet hanging with his feet. Doesn’t commit to anything on Hubo. Roll it forward. B. You got the rest of this. Right. So, what I loved about it was the push off, but I loved his glove hand. So, there’s going to be a replay. If we watch his glove hand, Cubido brings it to his backhand and Wstead’s glove hand comes out. You can’t beat him over the glove unless it’s going to go over the net. The angle the angle is too high. You can’t get you can’t get it above there and have it go in the net and you can’t get through his sort of his body under his glove. It’s a great move by the hand. But then if you just pay attention to this pad as he pushes, we can roll it through. As he pushes, that pad stays flat on the ice. Hubo has no chance to put it in the five hole. You just got to beat him to the post. And he gets to the post hard. Run it. Breakaway save against a really talented offensive player. Yeah. I mean, this is this is fantastic. And we’ll just let the rest of these clips kind of roll through. And I I just love how calm he is in the net. I mean, right there, it’s basically a twoon-one or two, sorry, a twoon at the net. Just he just looks very he’s fighting, looking around, just he’s in right in between the post all the time. Never slides outside, never gets too aggressive. a little bit like Hank who played Henrik Lungus who played deeper in his net, trusts his reactions, trusts his instincts. And look, listen, Minnesota needs him to be great, needs Gustoson to be great because in the stats we showed at the beginning with with Colorado and Dallas. They were over four goals per game scored as a team. Minnesota is only at 2.9ish. They need to be good uh in net for sure. And Gusson has gotten better in net, too. So, they’re in good hands here in the Minnesota Wild with their goalending
NHL Now breaks down the Minnesota Wild’s 11-game point streak behind outstanding play from Jesper Wallstedt in net.
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1 comment
Thank You Edmonton