EDMONTON — Jesper Wallstedt said he is just trying to live in the moment, which is understandable considering how good things are right now.

The rookie goalie for the Minnesota Wild is playing the best hockey of his life and making it look easy in the process, but the fact it hasn’t always been easy for him makes this run particularly satisfying.

“It’s been so much fun to the start of the year,” Wallstedt said after making 33 saves in a 1-0 win at the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, his fourth shutout in six starts. “I know what it’s like to not have so much fun, so I appreciate every day that is and I’m having a lot of fun right now.”

Wallstedt has five shutouts in 15 NHL games over three seasons, becoming the second fastest to reach the mark behind Frank Brimsek; “Mr. Zero” had five shutouts in his first nine starts of the 1938-39 season. The 23-year-old was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for November, going 6-0-0 with a League-best 1.14 goals-against average, .967 save percentage and three shutouts. He’s 8-0-2 this season with a 1.74 GAA and .944 save percentage, the win Tuesday extending the Wild’s point streak to 12 games (10-0-2).

“I’ve never played like this before, I don’t think,” Wallstedt said. “I just can’t thank my teammates enough, nothing would be possible without them. I’m just trying to do my job and making a lot of saves, but you can’t do that without the way we’ve been playing, tonight and every other game.”

Selected by Minnesota with the No. 20 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Wallstedt played the majority of the previous three seasons with Iowa of the American Hockey League. He played two NHL games last season, losing both with a 4.09 GAA and .843 save percentage.

Wallstedt was 2-1-0 with a 3.01 GAA and .897 save percentage for Minnesota in 2023-24. He made 24 saves for his first NHL win, 4-0 at the Chicago Blackhawks on April 7, 2024. He was 9-14-4 with a 3.59 GAA and .879 save percentage in 27 AHL games last season, a difficult one with him looking to play in the League out of training camp.

“He didn’t handle it well at the end of training camp last year when he went down and I think that did affect him early in the season, and then the injuries came to play and whatnot,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “But the thing with him and what I’ve liked, is that players are going to go through adversity, particularly young players, and the thing that I respect about him is that he had a tough year last year and he didn’t handle the situation the right way, but he took the action steps and learned lessons from that and turned it into action of what he needs to do to be able to play at this level.”