Wallstedt Dominates, Oilers fall 1-0 to Wild

Can you imagine if the Oilers had the opportunity to draft a young, star goaltender like Jesper Wallstedt? That certainly would be a franchise changing move, and it’s too bad they haven’t…

All jokes aside, last nights game against Minnesota was simply an example of two teams and goalies playing very tight checking, defensive hockey, and unfortunately the Oilers just came out on the wrong side of it. The Oilers wet the better team for large stretches of the game, and while they did generate a solid amount of offensive chances and zone time, they weren’t able to find the grade A chances and elite finishing that is required to beat elite goaltenders. On the defensive side of the puck, the Oilers looked great, allowing next to nothing at both 5 on 5 and the penalty kill, and the only goal Minnesota scored was a lucky-ish seeing eye shot from the point that Stuart Skinner would probably like back.

Goaltending

Stuart Skinner was actually pretty solid in this game, besides the one goal being a bit of a softie. Skinner has now put together 2 strong starts, so hopefully he is starting to heat up a bit. In regards to goaltending however, the big story from last night was Jesper Wallstedt. After his 4th shutout of the year, the rookie goaltender is now 8-0-2 on the year with a .944 and a 1.74. Wallstedt was a brick wall again for Minnesota, and what really stands out about him is just how complete his game is, he seems like he has very good reflexes but also is very good at staying in his net and in position squared up to the shooter.

Finishing

Ultimately, the Oilers just need to finish. They can blame other goalies and luck all they want, but at the end of the day they have three 50 goal scorers, Evan Bouchard and a bunch of scorers in the lineup. It’s up to them to just beat a goalie with a shot even if that goalie is having a good night.

The oilers will look to rebound tomorrow night at home against the Kraken.