ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The spotlight has been on Marc-Andre Fleury all season, with the soon-retiring goalie who has the second-most victories in NHL history winding down his farewell tour with the Minnesota Wild.
That's more than fine with Filip Gustavsson.
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Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (32) reacts after letting in a goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, April 11, 2025. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson watches the play as a stick is caught in the net behind him during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) makes a save against the Dallas Stars during the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
While the Wild struggled to score and stay on track for the NHL playoffs during extended injury absences for star left wing Kirill Kaprizov and first-line center Joel Eriksson Ek, Gustavsson helped keep them afloat. He quietly produced a critical bounce-back season for both him and the team, starting a career-high 58 games and shaving a half-goal off his goals against average from the previous season.
“I love that he’s always cool, calm and collected,” Fleury said. “Maybe sometimes he isn’t, but he doesn’t show it, and I think it’s very comforting for the guys when you have a guy like that back there.”
Gustavsson started 21 of the last 25 games for the Wild, who grabbed the first-wild card spot in the Western Conference with a dramatic overtime victory Tuesday night in their final regular-season game. They'll face the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round. Game 1 is Sunday.
“It’s really fun, and I wish I could play every game, almost. You kind of just have to leave the games way quicker after you’re done with them, because you know it’s a new one coming up, and you have to be ready for that one,” said Gustavsson, who was acquired in a summer trade with the Ottawa Senators in 2022. “If you’re losing a game or something, and the dwelling and all of that, it’s tough. Because if you’re dwelling, you have a tough time sleeping. If you’re not sleeping, you’re not good the next day.”
After signing a three-year, $11.25 million contract after his strong debut season with the Wild, Gustavsson took a step backward in 2023-24.
“I think I was trying way too hard and felt more pressure on my shoulders that I had to make a bigger difference instead of just trusting the team,” Gustavsson said this week.
With prospect Jasper Wallstedt in the mix, too, the Wild started training camp with three goalies. Salary cap constraints and Gustavsson's performance ensured Wallstedt spent nearly the entire season in the AHL.
“With the reset that he had in the summer and to come back with the mindset that he’s had, the consistency level that he’s been able to play with, it’s been great,” Wild coach John Hynes said, adding: “I think he understands that pucks are going to go in the net sometimes and it’s not all on him.”
Gustavsson and his wife have two kids under 2 years old at home, including newborn Lage who joined brother Vollrad in the family last month.
“I remember when I started playing pro, I always came home and I was very grumpy. I guess I wasn’t fun being around when I came home after games,” Gustavsson said. “We've got two kids now and we’ve got dogs and everyone is happy to see you, and you just kind of have to let it go.”
Having the perpetually smiling Fleury around as a mentor and a backup sure has helped, too.
“His compete level and his enjoyment for the game is so high,” Gustavsson said, “that it just spreads throughout the room.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (32) reacts after letting in a goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, April 11, 2025. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson watches the play as a stick is caught in the net behind him during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) makes a save against the Dallas Stars during the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
