Tag: filip gustavsson

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Wild makes significant lineup changes minutes before puck drop!

NHL.com

Despite goalie Filip Gustavsson’s great performance in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild has just announced that Marc-Andre Fleury gets the start for Game 2.

Team insider Michael Russo for The Athletic believes the change is due to Gustavsson playing double overtime on Monday and wanting to keep him fresh. 

On Monday night, the 24-year-old Swede stopped 51 of 53 shots, lifting the Wild to a 3-2 double-overtime road win in his NHL playoff debut.

Head coach Dean Evason has repeatedly indicated he thinks there’s a role for both netminders on this run and this is what he meant as he chose to start Flower for Game 2 just moments before the start.

On top of that, forward and overtime hero Ryan Hartman will not play tonight.

Minnesota leads the series 1-0 heading into Wednesday’s Game 2 in Dallas.

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Wild reveal starting goaltender and lineups for Game 1

Bally Sports North

The quest for the Stanley Cup officially begins tonight for the Minnesota Wild, who will be looking to advance past the first round of the postseason for the first time since 2015 when they took down the St. Louis Blues. 

They’ll be taking on a familiar rival in the Dallas Stars, who happen to feature former Wild mainstay Ryan Suter on the blue line. The series will be getting underway deep in the heart of Texas tonight at American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. 

And not surprisingly, it will be goaltender Filip Gustavsson who will be getting his first taste of playoff hockey. He was the first goaltender off the ice in this morning’s practice, the sure sign that he’ll be getting the nod in net. Meanwhile, it will be veteran Marc-Andre Fleury serving as backup.

It sounds as though they’ll be taking it game by game for who ultimately gets the start between the pipes, however. 

“I said it was an easy decision last year, because I thought — we thought — both goaltenders can play,” head coach Dean Evason said. “It’s the same situation. Both goaltenders have been absolutely fantastic for us this year. Fantastic. So the decision that we’re going to make is a difficult decision, but it’s an easy decision because they’re both extremely great goaltenders that the team has confidence in.

“We’ve used them both all season. There is no reason why we will not continue to do that. We’ll monitor game by game, as we always have.”

Gustavsson enjoyed a strong season in his first full year with the Wild since being traded for Cam Talbot this offseason, racking up a 22-9-7 record with a 2.10 goals against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts.

Meanwhile, here are tonight’s projected line combinations: 

Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello 

Johansson-Gaudreau-Boldy

Foligno-Steel-Nyquist

Duhaime-Dewar-Reaves

Middleton-Spurgeon

Brodin-Dumba

Merrill-Faber

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Marc-Andre Fleury gets revenge on Filip Gustavsson.

Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune

The Minnesota Wild will be relying heavily on their strong goaltending tandem of Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury when the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs officially get underway, but if the two goaltenders are feeling any pressure they aren’t showing any outwards signs of it.

In fact, Fleury and Gustavsson appear to be in the middle of an all-out prank war as they head into the playoffs with Fleury being the latest to fire off a shot at his fellow teammate. On Saturday, the Wild players who hit the ice were greeted by a bizarre sight as a mock representation of Gustavsson had been erected in the net, and I’m sure you can guess who the man behind the prank was.

If you zoom in to the picture, I thought the face that I presume Fleury drew himself was particularly amusing.

It was of course notorious prankster Marc-Andre Fleury, but in this case it sounds like he may actually have been provoked by Gustavsson.

You see Fleury recently had his socks sewn together by a sneaky prankster, but the veteran goaltender had been left unaware of who had pulled off the stunt. That was at least until Gustavsson outed himself during a recent interview, something that no doubt led to Fleury’s act of revenge on Saturday.

In fact, Fleury specifically mentions that he usually doesn’t target his goaltending partners, but Gustavson’s own prank appears to have prompted a change to that rule.

“I never go for my partner,” said Fleury when learning of the prank. “But I’ve got to give it to him… He must be big-time.”

Not only is this hilarious from the perspective of fans on the outside looking in, but it is also likely doing wonders to keep things loose and jovial as the Wild gear up for a tough first round playoff matchup against the Dallas Stars.

We likely haven’t seen the last of this little prank feud between the two goaltenders either, and quite frankly I can’t wait to see how Gustavsson will respond to this latest stunt from Fleury.

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Bad trade comes back to haunt the Senators as they run out time to make the playoffs…

NHL / Presser

Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion was quite busy throughout the summer to make sure he was putting a contender this season to get into the postseason.

With just four games to go, nothing is set in stone for the Senators as the battle is tight in the Eastern conference, but there is a sense that Ottawa will once again miss out on the postseason and there is already fingers getting pointed to the main reason why.

During the summer, Dorion acquired goalie Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild in return for netminder Filip Gustavsson in a one-for-one trade. And now looking back, this trade is coming back to haunt Dorion as the 2022-23 campaign comes to an end and the Senators aren’t in the playoff picture.

Talbot has not delivered in between the pipes for Ottawa and has been injured than ever before in his career. Meanwhile, Gustavsson has been a real revelation in Minnesota. When comparing the stats of the two goalies, there is a world of difference.

  • 35-year-old Cam Talbot is 16-14-2 with a 2.89 goals-against average and .900 save percentage in 35 games this season. He is currently in the final year of his contract, which pays him $3.67 million. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
  • 24-year-old Filip Gustavsson holds a 20-9-6 record with a 2.03 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in 36 games this season. He is currently playing the last year of his deal an AAV of $787,500. He will become a restricted free agent this summer.

On top of having four more victories in as many games than Talbot, Gustavsson allows an average of one less goal per game than the veteran goalkeeper, while their respective efficiency rates are simply not in the same league with Gustavsson ranking second in the entire NHL.

After Tuesday’s overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Senators are still six points from the last wild-card spot.
The Senators already had their number one goalie in Gustavsson before moving him to Minnesota and now, Dorion will have to spend the offseason fixing that mistake as Talbot likely won’t be back in Ottawa.

There is no doubt that Dorion made some good moves on the market lately, but you have to admit that this one was definitely a significant mistake.

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