Revealed: Avs Found Jesper Wallstedt’s Weakness

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Nazem Kadri, Jesper Wallstedt : Stanley Cup Playoffs -Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche
Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Wild scored SIX goals on Sunday night, in Game 1 of their second round playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough because the Avs scored NINE times, making the final 9-6 tally look, on paper, more like a bad football game than a thrilling showcase of offensive hockey.

Minnesota Wild sticking with Jesper Wallstedt

After the loss, John Hynes met with reporters and stood tall for his young goalie, Jesper Wallstedt. The MN Wild head coach instead blamed Colorado’s historic scoring output on the game’s blazing fast pace and a lack of defensive structure in front of net.

Hynes: “I think there’s a lot to unpack in this one. It was a bit of a helter-skelter game, and obviously you can tell by the score. We’ll take a look at some things, take some lessons out of this one, and be ready for Game 2.”

Reporter: “How do you see this game, was it a Wallstedt thing? What was going on in your mind about maybe pulling him at any point, or were you mostly going to stick with him no matter what?”

Hynes: “No, I thought Wally played… played.. — I mean, look what the score was. We can say it was nine [goals], but you know, they got the empty-netter and their guy was in for a lot of goals against too.”

John Hynes after Game 1 vs Avalanche (via DNVR_Avalanche on X)

Hynes wasn’t the only member of the Minnesota Wild who stuck up for Jesper Walstedt after Sunday’s loss. So did his teammates, especially Mats Zuccarello, who bemoaned the play in front of their goalie and praised how the 23-year-old netminder hung tough, both mentally and physically.

John Hynes and Bill Guerin have a little bit of time to change their mind, but at least for now, it doesn’t sound like the MN Wild have any plans to make a change in net, despite the fact that their regular season starter, Filip Gustavsson, is the guy waiting for the call.

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Meanwhile, in the home locker room at Ball Arena after last night’s shootout, the mood was much more celebratory. Sure, the Avalanche gave up six goals, but that matters little when you come out on top.

After struggling to find their offensive punch during a first round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings, there was a sense in the Avs locker room last night like they finally busted through whatever logjam was keeping pucks their out of the net.

Colorado Avalanche reveal prescouted Jesper Wallstedt weakness

But things got real interesting in Colorado’s locker room Sunday night, when reporters chatted with Avs trade deadline acquisition — forward Nazem Kadri — who may have spilled the beans on some pre-series prepwork the Avs did on Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt.

In case you didn’t notice, the Avalanche shot a lot from the same general area in Game 1 — the faceoff circle directly to the left of Wallstedt. When you watch the game back, you can see them regularly seeking out that spot, then throwing pucks on net… over and over.

Kadri, who indeed scored his goal on a breakaway wrister from the left faceoff circle admitted to “picking my spot” after “watching a lot of this goaltender”, quickly backtracked when asked if the Avs had scouted that area as a possible weakness for Wallstedt.

Kadri: “I feel like I was in a pretty good scoring area, Ross made a nice pass to spring me on the half breakaway. I’ve been watching a lot of this goaltender, so I just picked my spot and definitely, definitely picked it properly.”

Reporter: “It looked like a lot of you guys were picking that spot, both of Kale’s goals, Jack, Sam and you. Is that something you guys [scouted]?”

Kadri: “Yeah. I mean they were just really good shots. As a goaltender, I’m not sure you can do much about it. But we certainly wanted to come in and challenge him and force him to make some good saves and I’m happy we were able to get on the board quite a few times.”

I’m with the Minnesota Wild on their decision to stick with Jesper Wallstedt. However, they better be sure to fix whatever is fogging his vision from the left dot.

Context — Colorado scored eight goals with a goalie in net last night (plus one empty-netter). FIVE of those eight came from the same left (glove-side) faceoff area.

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So if there isn’t a quick fix to Wallstedt’s newfound blindspot, then the MN Wild either need to figure out a way to keep Avalanche players from getting to that spot or.. even backtrack and go with Gustavsson.

The secret may be out, but you can still bet Avalanche scorers will looking for the left circle early and often in Game 2, until Jesper Wallstedt and the Minnesota Wild can prove there’s no low-hanging fruit there to pick.

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