Jesper Wallstedt's unbelievable run continues with another Wild shutout

That's now four shutouts in the last six outings for Wallstedt, which is hard to fathom. He leads the league in that department, as well as most others. 10 games into his season, Wallstedt does not have a regulation loss (8-0-2). His 1.74 GAA leads all goalies by a decent margin, as does his .944 save percentage. At some point, he's due for regression, but it certainly hasn't happened yet.

After the game, Wallstedt downplayed the angle of facing the Oilers. But if it didn't mean anything extra to him, it surely stung a bit more for Edmonton fans. Back in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, the Oilers were on the clock at pick No. 20, and Wallstedt was on the board. Unsure if they liked him, Edmonton traded down two spots with the Wild and added a third-round pick. Minnesota took Wallstedt and is now reaping the benefits. The Oilers, meanwhile, have been plagued by their goalie play in a season where they currently rank 29th in goals allowed per game. 

To put Wallstedt's shutouts into some context, there have been 420 games played in the NHL so far this season. 38 of them have been shutouts (11 percent). Wallstedt is pitching shutouts at a 40 percent rate in his starts, and he alone is responsible for over 10 percent of all of the league's clean sheets at this moment.

The craziest part to think about is that not even a month ago, Wallstedt was a pure backup behind Filip Gustavsson who hadn't yet proven anything at the NHL level — and was coming off a year where he struggled a bit in the AHL. Before this season, he had made five NHL starts as the emergency No. 3 behind Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury. Moved into the backup role this year, Wallstedt started just three of the Wild's first 15 games and went 1-2, including a game where allowed six goals in a loss to the Sharks. 

Then, on November 7, Wallstedt made 25 saves in a win over the Islanders. Two nights later, he recorded a 36-save shutout against the Flames. And the run was underway. While alternating starts with Gustavsson, Wallstedt has won seven consecutive outings with four shutouts, seven goals allowed, and 235 saves. That's a save percentage above 97 in his last seven starts.

It's been an almost unprecedented run of dominance for the Wall of St. Paul.

Right now, Wallstedt is one of the best stories in the NHL, and the Wild have gone 12-1-2 since the start of November to completely turn their season around.

If head coach John Hynes sticks with the goalie rotation that's been working — Gustavsson has also played well this season and has a pair of shutouts — then Gustavsson will start on Thursday in Calgary, and Wallstedt's next outing will come on Saturday in Vancouver. But at some point, if this remarkable run continues, Wallstedt might earn more than a 50 percent split in Minnesota's net.

And Wallstedt, the reigning NHL rookie of the month, might not only be a leading candidate for the Calder Trophy — he might just end up in the mix for the Vezina, too.