The new year. There was a no-nonsense Swedish goalie show in Minnesota tonight.
Jakob Markström and Philip Gustafsson both kept clean sheets – and in the end the former, after 41 saves, was rewarded with a penalty win.
“Marcan was great and I’m so happy for him,” says Calgary star Tyler Toffoli.
It certainly wasn’t a goal celebration between the Minnesota Wild and the Calgary Flames at St. Paul’s Excel Energy Center — and that was because two star goalies in blue and yellow were outshone.
In the penalty area, Filip Gustafsson, who achieved a great feat last month, made sure to stop 26 of his 26 shots, and on the other side of the ice, veteran Jakob Markstrom was even worse and let none of his 41 shots pass him.
So it was 0-0 full time.
Celebrate “Markie”
Then the Wild managed to score a goal in overtime, but it was ruled out for offside after a video review – and in the end “Markan” managed to lead the Flames to a much-needed penalty shootout win.
“It was absolutely brilliant, we wouldn’t have reached an extension or penalty without him,” Tyler Tofoli tells the media afterwards.
– I’m so happy for Marky. His start to the season wasn’t the best and many would play him for it, but he really stepped up, not least in the last two games.
The 33-year-old Gastric thanks his teammates.
– They did a great job making sure I saw all the pucks and also covered a lot of shots. But of course it was nice to have a victory like that, he says.
He praised the team after its clean sheet
Het Gustafsson, who has now kept two consecutive clean sheets, also shines a spotlight on his teammates.
– Today we gave up some free chances in the first half, but then we cleaned them up and played like we did all the time at the end, without giving the opponents many chances at all, he says.
