Wild Escape the Bell Centre in Overtime Behind Wallstedt
Montréal carried most of this game and still went home with only a single point. The Minnesota Wild won 2-1 in overtime at the Bell Centre, and the reason has a name: Jesper Wallstedt.
The Canadiens outshot Minnesota 28-24, threw far more pucks at the net overall and won most of the faceoffs. Their looks were also better. By expected goals, a measure of how many goals a team's chances were worth, Montréal generated 3.63 to Minnesota's 2.89. On another night that is a win.
Wallstedt stopped 27 of 28, including 6 of 7 high-danger shots, and saved 2.63 goals more than an average goalie would have on those chances. Only Nick Suzuki beat him. Then the posts finished the job: Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook each rang the iron.
Bobby Brink and Kirill Kaprizov scored for Minnesota, and Jacob Fowler was solid at 22 of 24. The bounces simply went the Wild's way.
Montréal still takes a point. The loss came in overtime, so the club sits at 11-3-3, second in the Atlantic.
