DENVER \u2014 The bad news for the Minnesota Wild is that they\u2019re in a 2-0 series hole against a terrific Colorado Avalanche team that has looked every bit like a Stanley Cup favorite in winning its first six games of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Wild\u2019s special teams are struggling at the absolute worst time. Their second defense pair has been god-awful, with Jake Middleton on for nine goals and Jared Spurgeon for eight in this series, and Jonas Brodin isn\u2019t close to coming in to save them. Matt Boldy is goalless in the first two games of the series \u2014 clearly affected by the loss of his center, Joel Eriksson Ek \u2014 and the Avalanche are playing him more physically than we\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n
The last thing the Wild needed was to fumble one of their few advantages over the Avs coming into the series: stability in net.<\/p>\n
The decision to play Filip Gustavsson over Jesper Wallstedt in Game 2 was a flop. The Avalanche scored on their first two shots en route to a 5-2 victory<\/a> at Ball Arena. And the third goal \u2014 the eventual game winner \u2014 was soft, plain and simple.<\/p>\n Whether Wallstedt returns in net for Game 3 remains to be seen. He should, probably will, and maybe that was the plan all along.<\/p>\n But judging from Wallstedt\u2019s demeanor Tuesday morning and Gustavsson\u2019s after the Game 2 loss, the Wild now have two ticked-off goalies on their hands, which could have long-term implications for one of them (more on that later).<\/p>\n We get it.<\/p>\n If there was ever a time to go back to Gustavsson, Game 2 was it. Wallstedt had just given up eight goals and played a lot of high-intensity hockey in starting the first seven playoff games. If the premise was to give Wallstedt a mental and physical reset, then go back to him in Game 3, there\u2019s some merit to that \u2014 even though there are three off days coming up and the Wild were throwing in a rusty goalie who hadn\u2019t played since April 13.<\/p>\n But it was still a big, big risk.<\/p>\n The Avalanche are an elite team \u2014 the best in the NHL. And they\u2019re playing at a very high level. So there\u2019s already very little margin for error, especially without top shutdown center Eriksson Ek and shutdown defenseman Brodin.<\/p>\n So the last thing the Wild needed to do in this series was start overthinking and making a yo-yo out of the goalie position. Fans of this franchise have seen this story before: Starting Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 2 against Dallas in 2023 after Gustavsson\u2019s double overtime gem in Game 1. Shelving Cam Talbot for Fleury in 2022 against St. Louis.<\/p>\n