Jesper Wallstedt will start in goal for the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at Grand Casino Arena, with Minnesota trying to slow a 2-0 series deficit after consecutive losses to open the second round.

The 23-year-old Wallstedt gives the Wild their same starting goalie from the first seven games of the postseason, after Filip Gustavsson took Game 2 and allowed four goals on 22 shots in a 5-2 defeat. Wallstedt was charged with eight goals on 42 shots in Minnesota’s 9-6 loss in Game 1 on Sunday, but his playoff work before that had been far stronger. He posted a 2.05 goals-against average and a.924 save percentage in six games against the Dallas Stars in the first round, including a 2.08 GAA and a.923 save percentage in three home games. He made 21 saves in the series-clinching 5-2 win in Game 6 against Dallas on April 30.

Coach John Hynes said before the game that the plan was to give Wallstedt a break after he had played a lot of hockey, describing the decision as a chance to get him rest and recovery while Gustavsson handled Game 2. Wallstedt had started seven straight games in a 16-day span to begin the playoffs and carried that workload into a strong late-season run, going 4-3-2 with a 1.98 GAA and a.930 save percentage in 10 games from March 8 through the end of the regular season.

The Wild are still shorthanded beyond the crease. Joel Eriksson Ek will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury, though he skated Friday for the first time since getting hurt in Game 6 against Dallas after losing an edge and crashing leg first into the boards early in the third period. Jonas Brodin will miss his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot with his foot in Game 5 of the first round, and he has not resumed skating.

Minnesota reached this round after advancing past Dallas for the first time since 2015, but the Avalanche have set the pace since then. Colorado is 6-0 in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Wild now have to find a way to make Game 3 matter before the series gets any further away. For Wallstedt, the assignment is simple and heavy at once: give Minnesota a chance to breathe.