Minnesotan Sammy Walker makes his home debut with Wild

Sammy Walker has played at Xcel Energy Center before, but Monday was the first time he entered the Wild's locker room.

Inside was a stall of his very own.

After the Edina native and former Gophers captain made his NHL debut on Saturday at Vancouver, Walker returned to the Twin Cities with the Wild and stayed in the lineup when the team kicked off a four-game homestand against Edmonton.

"Growing up here, since you can barely walk, it's a dream," Walker said. "It's exciting."

This opportunity with the Wild came after Walker's strong start to the season in the minors.

He was called up from Iowa on Friday as the American Hockey League's leading scorer among rookies with 22 points, and he ranked first on Iowa in goals (11) and points and second in assists (11).

The 23-year-old signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Wild in August after wrapping up his four-year Gophers career. Before that, Walker was Mr. Hockey his senior season at Edina in 2018. A seventh-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2017, he elected instead to sign with the Wild.

"I just try to use my speed, try to just fly around the whole ice," said Walker, who was expecting his family in attendance Monday.

Against the Canucks, Walker drew the penalty that led to Matt Boldy's game-winning goal on the power play and he had two shot attempts in 9 minutes, 54 seconds of ice time during the Wild's 3-0 victory.

"Still trying to process it," Walker said. "The first couple shifts definitely a little nervous, but I just tried to settle in and worry about playing my game and just help the team win."

Connor Dewar scored his third shorthanded goal of the season vs. Vancouver, almost halfway to the Wild record of seven set by Wes Walz in 2000-01.

Dewar is only the eighth player in team history with three shorthanded tallies in a season and first since Mikael Granlund in 2016-17. Most of Dewar's finishes have come on breakaways.

"Not only the speed that he's created on those breakaways, [but] the intelligence to get away and know when to go," coach Dean Evason said. "He's not cheating. He's not blowing the zone. He's making good reads of when to go. Then he's used his physical abilities to get those breakaways."

Filip Gustavsson continues to deliver for the Wild.

The backup goaltender improved to 5-1-1 over his last seven games with a 1.95 goals-against average and .936 save percentage after stopping all 35 shots he faced on Saturday to pick up the first shutout of his career.

Gustavsson is the fourth different Wild goalie in the last 10 years to earn a shutout of at least 35 saves, and he's the fourth netminder age 24 or younger in team history to post a four-game win streak.

"It was great," Gustavsson said. "You the see the clock winding down. You start to think, and then you come to the last TV timeout. It kind of feels like the game is under control, that we're going to win the game, but then you kind of want to finish it off and get the perfect score."

Kirill Kaprizov's franchise-best point streak ended at 14 games on Saturday.

The run is the third longest in the NHL this season, finishing behind an 18-game surge from Dallas' Jason Robertson and the active 22-game tear by Toronto's Mitch Marner.

Ryan Hartman skated Monday morning with the Wild and has been cleared to practice.

"We're very excited about that," Evason said. "To pinpoint exactly when he's going to play, we're not going to do that. We're going to see how he progresses here through regular skates with the group."

The center has been out since suffering an upper-body injury on Oct. 30 at Chicago.

Brandon Duhaime is also sidelined with an upper-body injury, with the winger last playing Nov. 23 vs. Winnipeg.

Evason said the team hopes Duhaime also gets cleared to resume practicing and joins the Wild for their next session.