Wally is a Wall, as Wild blank Jets

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt’s nickname among his Minnesota Wild teammates is “Wally.” They might be dropping the “Y” soon.

Visiting a hot-shooting Jets team on Sunday, Wallstedt stopped everything thrown his way, backstopping the Wild’s 3-0 win as their red-hot November rolls on.

With 32 saves, Wallstedt posted his third shutout in his last four starts, and improved to 6-0-2 as his candidacy for NHL rookie of the year becomes more and more legitimate.

“He’s playing like a wall right now. It’s fun to watch, and it gives us all confidence,” said Wild defenseman Brock Faber, who scored his first career shorthanded goal Sunday. “It took time for him to get here. He worked and battled and went through adversity and ups and downs, and to see him playing the way he can play, it’s incredible, and we just need to keep it rolling for him and (Filip Gustavsson).”

The Wild got goals from Danila Yurov, Faber and Kirill Kaprizov, running their record to 9-1-1 this month.

Perhaps most importantly, they played with a lead, again, scoring first for the franchise-record 12th consecutive game.

As opposed to recent fast starts, they needed more than seven minutes to get a shot on goal Sunday afternoon. They stiffened defensively and survived the game’s first penalty, not allowing a shot while Yakov Trenin had a two-minute break.

The first period ended scoreless, with Winnipeg holding a 9-7 shots advantage, which is notable after Minnesota was outshot 6-0 before the game’s first media timeout.

The Jets were roaring again early in the middle frame, forcing Wallstedt to keep the door shut, stopping Jets star Kyle Connor all alone at the top of the crease after a Wild turnover deep in the defensive zone. He also got some help, as Jonas Brodin pulled a puck off the goal line during a chaotic sequence around the Minnesota net.

On the ensuing shift, Trenin fed Yurov with a quick pass, and the Russian rookie popped in his third career goal before Jets netminder Eric Comrie could flinch.

“All year long, he has been real solid, I think, on the defensive end, and just with his hockey smarts. But now I think he’s getting more confidence with the puck, when to make plays,” Wild coach John Hynes said of Yurov. “When he doesn’t have plays to make, I think he’s putting pucks in the good areas, and because of his smarts, he found his way into that area of the ice tonight, where Trenin was able to make the play for him, he put it home.”

And then the fists flew, with Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno and Winnipeg’s Adam Lowry exchanging unpleasantries. Each man got the requisite fighting major penalty, but while Lowry went to the penalty box, Foligno headed to the locker room, and the ice crew cleaned blood off the rink.

After getting his cut hand mended, Foligno returned to the Wild bench when the five minutes expired.

The Wild controlled play during their first power play of the game and tested Comrie, but the man advantage was abbreviated, as Kaprizov was called for holding.

But with the Wild killing the Kaprizov penalty, Faber flipped the puck out of danger, which started a 2-on-1 rush to the net. Rather than shoot, Marcus Johansson flipped the puck back to Faber, whose long-range blast found the upper corner. It was the Wild’s second shorthanded goal of the past week.

Kaprizov’s seeing-eye shot in the third period sailed just under the crossbar for his 13th goal of the season, tying him with Matt Boldy for the team lead.

But Wallstedt, who now leads the NHL in shutouts, was the story once again, although he was quick to share the love.

“The way our team has sacrificed themselves, I feel like we’re one of the teams that blocks the most shots, we try to get in front of every puck,” said Wallstedt, who became the youngest goalie in NHL history to post a five-game winning streak. “They take away sticks and everything. And boxing out. So I can focus on my job. I feel like pucks have been getting stuck in me, and hopefully I show some calmness back there, that I can show that they can trust me.”

Comrie had 26 saves for the Jets, who won in St. Paul last month in the season’s first meeting between these Central Division rivals.

In this season of a condensed schedule, the Wild get a rare two-day break before closing out their three-game road trip with a 7:30 p.m. game Wednesday night in Chicago. It will be the first of three meetings between the Wild and Blackhawks this season.

Briefly

The Jets are celebrating their 15th season in Manitoba since relocating from Atlanta in the summer of 2011. In 2008, the team then known as the Atlanta Thrashers used the third overall pick in the NHL draft on defenseman Zach Bogosian, now with the Wild. As of this season, Bogosian and Vancouver winger Evander Kane are the only two active NHLers who played for the Thrashers.