Ryan Hartman, Minnesota Wild (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Wild’s Gustavsson Records Shutout in 5-0 Win Over Blues

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Oct 9, 2025 10:53 PM ET

The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues opened their regular seasons against each other on Thursday evening, Oct. 9, in St. Louis. It’s the beginning of the season, but both teams were already dealing with injuries to their lineups. The Blues were without Oskar Sundqvist, who was listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury after being injured in practice over the previous weekend.

The Wild’s injury list was a bit longer as they were without Jonas Brodin, who is expected back sooner than later, but then they were without Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm, both expected to miss the next six to eight weeks. The goaltending battle was between Jordan Binnington for the Blues and Filip Gustavsson for the Wild. The Wild jumped to an early lead and built it in every period as the game went on, and took the 5-0 win.

Game Recap

As expected, the first game of the season for both teams started a bit sloppy as they worked to get their legs under them again. The Wild got on the scoreboard first as Ryan Hartman scored late in the first to give his team a 1-0 lead. He was assisted by Marcus Johnasson. That goal gave the Wild the momentum they were looking for as they tallied a second barely a minute and a half later. Matt Boldy scored the goal, and he was assisted by Kirill Kaprizov and Marco Rossi to make it 2-0. Those were the only goals of the period, and the Wild took the lead into the second.

Despite some close calls, the Wild held the two-goal lead past the halfway point of the second period when they added to it. Joel Eriksson Ek scored on the power play to make it 3-0. He was assisted by Kaprizov and Boldy. With just a few minutes left in the period, Hartman scored his second of the night to make it 4-0. He was assisted by Yakov Trenin, and that was the final goal of the period.

The Wild continued to extend their lead in the third period as Rossi recorded his first goal of the game to make it 5-0. He was assisted by Kaprizov and Boldy. That was the only goal of the final period, and the Wild took the win 5-0, and Gustavsson recorded his first shutout of the season.

The Blues will head on the road to face the Calgary Flames on Saturday, Oct. 11. The Wild will be in action the same night but back at home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets.