New York. Philip Gustafson’s wild – or rather wild – success continues in Minnesota.
Last night, he made 33 saves to lead the Wild to a resounding 2-1 win over the LA Kings – and was rewarded with a standing ovation.
– It’s fun to play hockey now, says the 24-year-old from Västerbotten.
For a long time, it looked as if Filip Gustafsson would keep a clean sheet against one of the league’s most explosive attacking sides, but with just 21 seconds remaining, Anzhi Kopitar managed to blast through the penalty area.
little snot.
– It was close, but that’s okay. We got two points, and that’s the important thing, says the star freshman Minnesota goalie.
who stopped a total of 33 shots and looked calm and stable throughout the match – which is why he was welcomed.
The fans here are great. A blizzard is raging here in the city now, but they come here anyway and help us support them, Philip continues.
– As for the match as such, I knew they would shoot a lot, Kempe, Arvidsson and those guys are very good, but I trusted the process as usual. She is just trying to rescue after rescue. We won and it feels great. It’s fun to play hockey now.
Everyone in the wild would probably agree, because after a rather tough run, they’ve now won three straight games and gained a bit of an edge against chasing Calgary right under the goal line.
– We slipped a bit in confidence when we lost our Wild Card spot, and we didn’t think we’d ever get a bounce back. But we decided to go aggressive in the penalty area and shoot more and at the same time give the opponent less chances against us. It worked and now we have our confidence back, says Philip.
The aforementioned Adrian Kempe would have helped Kopitar’s consolation goal.
Jesper Pratt scored his 23rd goal of the season at home to The Rock last night, but there was no celebration after that.
The New Jersey Devils surprisingly lost 5-2 to Montreal.
We looked tired and gave up an extraordinary number of chances. I’m not trying to make excuses, but we played a lot of hockey in the end, says coach Lindy Ruff.
Nashville was putting it at home against Vancouver. With just over a minute left, they were leading 4-2, but with two quick goals, the gestures were allowed to catch up. In the end, the desperate fraudsters were still able to secure two points – after penalties.
Thus, they did not completely lose contact with the team above the line.
– We can’t do it like that, we have to close matches when we have that kind of lead. But we’re certainly glad we still won,” says forward Nino Niedereiter.
Elias Peterson was credited with an assist on the Canucks’ late catch.
Edmonton also had problems in its home game against Philadelphia. Two periods later, the visitors are up 2-1 – even though they also played last night.
But in the third, Conor McDavid took over the show and watched with two goals and an assist turning the tide in favor of the home team.
So far they find themselves on reasonably safe ground, with seven points to the line.
Swedish rookie Olle Lycksell scored his first NHL point for the Flyers, in the form of an assist.
Anaheim got off to a good start in their away game against Tampa and were 0-0 after one period.
Then she collapsed. The Lightning scored four unanswered goals in the middle period and eventually won 6-1.
Between Chicago and Vegas the score was 2-2 after full time. Then the Blackhawks won in a penalty shootout.
