Frederick Gaudreau staring down Wild shootout goal record with career year

PITTSBURGH — Before this season, Frederick Gaudreau had never scored in an NHL shootout.

Now the center is leading the league, his clutch shot helping the Wild also become the best in the 1 vs. 1 showdown.

"Stay in the moment," Gaudreau said. "That's the biggest challenge. It's not the move itself, but it's your state of mind I would say. To me, when I feel like the game is getting close to this or overtime, already I get the process in my mind of just calming the nerves down and being just fully in the moment.

"Everybody's watching. It's loud. You either make it or you don't. There's no gray area: it's black or white."

Even after losing their latest shootout on Monday 4-3 to Vegas, the Wild still had the most shootout victories in the NHL with seven.

Gaudreau converted that game, looping into the slot before wiring the puck past Golden Knights goaltender Laurent Brossoit for his eighth finish in 13 attempts — this after coming into the season 0-for-3 in his career. His next goal would establish a new franchise record, eclipsing the eight Mikko Koivu racked up in 2006-07.

"It changes, for sure," Gaudreau said of his strategy. "Depends on a lot of things, but I just try to go slow and see where it leads me. I like to go slow because it gives me more options; if I see a shot, I can take it. If I don't, then I still have time to make a move."

But capitalizing isn't all about picking the right shot.

"The self-talk is either, 'Oh, man, again another shootout,' or, 'No, let's do it. You're going to score,'" Gaudreau explained. "The more you have that positive attack or approach to the shootout, you give yourself the best chance."

Brandon Duhaime remained alongside Connor Dewar and Ryan Reaves vs. Pittsburgh on Thursday, a new-look fourth line for the Wild after Mason Shaw suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his right knee last Saturday at Vegas.

"I want to bring some energy, some speed to that line, and some physicality," said Duhaime, who scored on Monday against the Golden Knights in his new spot. "Obviously, Reaves is a big, hard player. Dewar skates real well and is really solid defensively. They've been doing some things offensively, too. So, I'm just trying to chip in on that line as best I can."

Gustav Nyquist (shoulder) could make his Wild debut as soon as Saturday vs. St. Louis, and the team also has an idea of when Kirill Kaprizov (lower-body injury) will return that it is keeping under wraps.

But while those two players are working to get back into action, others could exit the lineup to rest up before the playoffs begin.

"We obviously want to continue to play the way that we can play and have success and be on a roll when you get there," coach Dean Evason said. "But we do think it's important to be healthy. We've been banged up a couple times last couple years with some people, which happens anyways.

"We'll try to do the best we can to monitor that and make the decisions as we see fit."