The Wild enjoyed a productive goalie tandem a season ago, albeit one that evolved beyond what they might have expected as the year went on.
Marc-Andre Fleury began the year as the clear No. 1, but by virtue of Filip Gustavsson's play it became a methodical goalie rotation as the Wild hit their stride during the final two-thirds of the season. The Gus Bus started rolling so well that he was the obvious choice to take the net in the playoffs, getting five of six starts in a tough series loss to Dallas.
Gustavsson got a three-year contract in the offseason and entered this year as the No. 1 option in a time share that had the feel of a likely 65/35, not 50/50 playing time split.
Fleury, in the final year of his contract and perhaps the final season of an illustrious career, would comfortably chase some all-time goalie leader records and keep the crease warm until top prospect Jesper Wallstedt was ready to join Gustavsson as the new tandem.
But now? Plans seem to be evolving again, as I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
The Gus Bus has a flat tire, or two, if we are to extend this tortured metaphor. Even after a season-opening shutout, Gustavsson's goals against average is a ghastly 4.89. In his last game, he gave up three goals on four shots before giving way to Fleury.
At that point, the Wild were down 3-0 to the red-hot Rangers and were already on a four-game losing streak.
From there, Fleury steadied them enough that the Wild rallied for an improbable but important 5-4 shootout win during which Fleury made key stops to get to overtime and to win the extra point. And then he was solid again Tuesday in a 4-2 win over the Islanders that qualified as one of their most complete efforts of the season.
