Jesper Wallstedt enjoying historic run in rookie season for Wild

EDMONTON – As the Minnesota Wild carry their momentum from a marvelous month of November to the next calendar page, they are being driven by a rookie goalie who is very much earning the nickname “The Wall.”

Jesper Wallstedt made 33 saves to record his league-leading fourth shutout of the season in just 10 games as the Wild continued their torrid pace of late, emerging with a 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. He became the first goaltender in more than 61 years and seventh since 1929-30 with five shutouts at the time of his 10th career win.

Named the NHL’s rookie of the month earlier in the day, Wallstedt had a 6-0-0 record and a league-best 1.14 goals-against average, .967 save percentage and three shutouts in six games in November. The 23-year-old Swede has an 8-0-2 record with a league-leading .944 save percentage and 1.74 goals-against average.

“It’s fun. 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 games.”

Wallstedt now has shutouts in a third of his career starts with five in 15 games — the second-fewest games to hit five career shutouts in league history behind Frank Brimsek of the Boston Bruins, who did it in nine all the way back in 1938. He is also the first rookie goalie with four shutouts in a six-game span since Brimsek in December 1938.

Jonas Brodin scored the lone goal for the Wild (15-7-5) who have achieved at least a point in 12 straight games. The Wild went 11-1-2 in November.

“I thought it was a good game, I thought Wally was really good in net,” said Brodin, who scored his third goal of the season on a shot from the point of a draw with seven minutes remaining in the first period. 

“I thought we defended really hard. I think maybe the next game, we can be a little bit better offensive probably, but other than that, I thought it was a great game and Wally was so good and made a lot of really good saves.”

The Wild are now 12-1-2 since the start of November and getting strong goaltending from both rookie Wallstedt and veteran Filip Gustavsson.

“Both of them (goalies) have played so incredibly strong for us, no matter who we play against, no matter how we play they always seem to show up,” said Wild defenceman Brock Faber. “To have two goalies like that, it makes our job easier, both physically and mentally knowing just the confidence they have back there just bleeds throughout the whole lineup.”

Minnesota head coach John Hynes was happy with his team’s resolve on the night.

“I thought it was a really highly-competitive game by both teams,” he said. “I thought as the game went on, they had some pushes and I thought we did a good job defending and we got some good goaltending, a lot of blocked shots. 

“It’s always a tough team to play against and I’m glad we found a way to win.”

The Oilers (11-11-5) have lost five of their last seven.

“They defended well, obviously they’re playing well,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid of the Wild. “Their goalie is playing well, they’re doing a lot of really good things.

“I thought we generated looks. We only gave up one. Usually when you give up one, you’re going to win a lot of games. We didn’t.”

Seeing Wallstedt play so well is tough for a lot of Edmonton fans to see. He was drafted 20th overall in the 2021 NHL draft with Edmonton’s selection after the Oilers traded the selection to the Wild and dropped two spots.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2025.