The Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames 2-0 in Sunday night NHL action from the North Star State.

Here are the takeaways:

Quality over Quantity

We've mentioned many times before that there is nothing wrong with Calgary's ability to put shots on the net. The concern has to do with the quality of those shots. There was no bigger example of that than this game: Before Calgary pulled their goalie near the 18th minute mark of the final period, the Flames nearly doubled in outshooting Minnesota on the net 34-18. But in terms of putting up high-danger scoring chances, the Wild out-chanced the Flames 10-9 with one ending up in the net.

The shot qualities have to be better.

Special Teams

We posted a story earlier that the Flames were in danger of being 32nd (yep, dead-last) in the league through 17 games for the first time since 2023-24. 

Well, they had three opportunities on the man-advantage, including two that were cancelled out, and they came up empty in each of them. Now with a PP% of 11.66 (7-of-60), Calgary drops below the New York Rangers for last on the power play in the league through 17 games.

Going 4-for-4 on the penalty-kill was great but that luck needs to spread on the power play.

Goalies

You have to give props to Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt for putting up only his second shutout and first since April 13, 2024.

On that note, Devin Cooley did what was asked of him and put up a save percentage 0.944. Giving up one goal is the best you can do in a losing situation. 

Bottom Line

Canceling out your own power plays is a killer on top of not capitalizing on the man-advantage. We're surprised many people don't say that.

The penalty-kill seems to be working for a while, but that's the only part of the special teams that's good.

The quality of shots have to improve.