Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt opened up about being a healthy scratch for one playoff game, saying it allowed him to focus on areas that needed improvement.
The Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5–1 in Game 3 of their second–round Stanley Cup series on Friday, trimming the series deficit to 1–2. Wallstedt stopped 34 of 35 shots in the victory.
In Game 2, which Minnesota lost 5–2, Philipp Grubauer started in goal, recording 18 saves on 22 shots for an 81.8% save rate. He replaced Wallstedt, who had allowed eight goals on 42 shots (81.0% save percentage) in the series opener, a 6–3 loss.
Wallstedt viewed his one–game benching as an opportunity to dive deeper into the finer points of his game and prepare for his next start.
“It’s really easy when you just keep playing and playing with almost no practice. You go to the morning skate just to feel the puck, but you never work on the details,” Wallstedt said. “I think there were things I needed to look at and things I could improve, and I feel those days gave me the chance to do that.”
