Wild's 29 blocked shots against Rangers carry high risk, high reward

ELMONT, N.Y. — Marc-Andre Fleury stopped a season-high 40 shots in his last start on Tuesday against the Rangers, but his workload could have been much greater.

The players in front of the Wild goaltender blocked a whopping 29 shots.

That captain Jared Spurgeon had five of them was unsurprising since no Wild skater in team history has more blocks than him.

"Maybe playing goalie for my brother at a young age helped a bit," Spurgeon said.

After that five-block game vs. the Rangers, Spurgeon reached 90 on the season — far and away the most on the team and top 10 in the NHL.

Add those to the 1,282 the defenseman had coming into the season, and the franchise leader is closing in on 1,400, an impressive consistency despite the risks.

Not only is there a chance the player blocking a shot ends up screening his own goaltender by impeding the netminder's ability to track the shot, but getting pinged with pucks — especially at close range — can lead to injury or an own goal.

Choosing whether to plug up a shooting lane or stay out of the way happens in a split second.

"I know it's difficult to make a decision when and when not to," Evason said. "I know our commitment's there. As long as our commitment's there, guys are going to make some mistakes. But hopefully we'll block more than we'll screen."

Like Kirill Kaprizov the previous week, Joel Eriksson Ek nearly scored on Tuesday after going for a shot between his legs.

Both players had their attempts hit the post.

What makes the shot difficult for goaltenders is they can't read it, the puck sailing off the stick blade in a snapping motion without the usual wind-up that precedes shots when the puck is in front of a player.

Forward Sammy Walker and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt were named to the Central Division roster for the American Hockey League's All-Star Classic.

Walker, who tallied his first NHL goal on Dec. 27 and has appeared in six games with the Wild, leads Iowa in goals with 14; the Edina native's 29 points are tied for first among AHL rookies.

Wallstedt is 8-7-3 with a 2.87 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in his first North American season since leaving Sweden after the Wild drafted him 20th overall in 2021. The goalie became the first in Iowa history to score a goal on Nov. 12.