WINNIPEG — Not only was Jesper Wahlstedt unbeatable on Sunday afternoon, but the Minnesota Wild goalie had yet to be beaten this season.
Wahlstedt stopped 32 shots and recorded his third shutout and eighth win in eight starts this year (8-0-2) as the Wild routed the Winnipeg Jets in front of 14,368 witnesses at the Canada Life Centre.
“He's playing like Wall right now,” said Brock Faber, whose shorthanded goal gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead late in the second period. “It’s exciting to watch and it gives us confidence.
“You can tell he's just gaining more confidence every day. It's so good to see. It's taken him a while to get here. He's worked and fought, been through adversity, ups and downs, and to see him play the way he can play, it's incredible. We just need to keep it going for him and Gus (Philip Gustafsson).”
Faber added that Wollstedt held down the fort as the Jets knocked Minnesota out of the starting gate.
“I thought maybe we didn’t start the way we wanted,” Wallstedt said. “I felt like we were defending really well at the moment, although we got stuck in our zone for a couple of minutes and they were under some pressure. We were still calm, collected and stuck to our game plan and after a while we started to step up and play our game again.”
Wahlstedt thanked his teammates for his success.
“Everyone had a lot of blocked shots,” he said. “They sacrifice themselves in front of the puck as well, so obviously when they make a mistake or the puck bounces, I'm there to help them out. We're a team, we work together, and I felt like we had a really good relationship right now.”
“The way our team has sacrificed, I feel like we're one of the teams that blocks the most shots. We try to be in front of every puck. They take the sticks and everything. And box out so I can focus on my job. I feel like the pucks are stuck in me, and hopefully I'll show some calm where I can show that they can trust me.”
The Wild (12-7-4) are unbeaten in their last eight games and haven't allowed a goal in their last two games.
“We have a great goalie,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I think both of those guys deserve credit, but I think defensively we're committed in that area. So I think strong defense coupled with great goaltending is a good recipe for that.”
Kirill Kaprizov, who extended his point streak to five games, and Danila Yurov also scored for Minnesota.
Winnipeg dropped to 12-9-0 after going 1-2 on home soil and is headed in the wrong direction heading into a five-game road trip.
“We still have a long way to go,” guard Dylan DeMelo said. “It's more of a process and I think that's our concern as a team. I don't think we're playing the way we want to. The result? Take that out of the equation.”
“We're not even close to where we need to be as a successful team when it really matters going forward. We've shown it in flashes, but it hasn't been consistent. We need to find that consistency, but we're only a quarter of the way through the season here.”
The Jets lost defenseman Neal Pionk to a lower-body injury midway through the first period.
“We've been beat up (with injuries) and we got beat again tonight,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “Consistency, whether it be from period to period or game to game, is what I would say has been missing in these first 21 games.”
The loss spoiled Mark Scheifele's 900th NHL game, the most in franchise history.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2025.
