ST. LOUIS — In the Wild’s best performance of the season, Filip Gustavsson still managed to steal the show. The goaltender stopped 27 of 28 shots, then became the first Wild goaltender to score a goal when, with nine seconds left, he arced a shot roughly 175 feet into the left corner of the net for the final goal in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday at Enterprise Center. “He upped the power-play percentage,” head coach John Hynes noted. “Nice shot. Same (amount of) goals like a lot of guys,” said Kirill Kaprizov, tacitly pointing out that he and the Wild’s top goaltender each have one goal through four games. Ryan Hartman, Jakub Lauko and Marco Rossi also scored goals as Minnesota, playing shorthanded for the second time in as many games, improved to 2-0-2 to extend its points streak to the first four games — despite playing without three of its top players. Without forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson, and defenseman Jared Spurgeon, Hynes iced 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Forwards Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello all skated more than 21 minutes, led by Kaprizov’s 27:59. Kaprizov had two assists, one on Hartman’s power play goal to start the scoring and was generally all over the ice, keeping forechecks alive and digging pucks out of corners. “He loves to play. He loves the game. He loves to compete,” Hynes said. “The nice thing is he’s got the engine to do it. … He has the ability and the stamina to be able to play those minutes sometimes, and it was nice to see him play well tonight.” Minnesota is 1-0-1 in the first two games of a seven-straight stretch on the road, a stretch that will bring them into November. Next up are the Blue Jackets on Saturday night in Columbus. Lauko scored short-handed to make it 2-0 in the second period — at the time, the Wild were being outshot 18-5 — and Rossi scored 44 seconds into the third to make it 3-0. The power play was 2 for 5, and the penalty kill was 4-0. Yet in the end, it was overshadowed by Gustavsson, whose goal put the exclamation point on another stellar performance to start the season. In three starts, he has a 1.66 goals-against average and .948 save percentage — a nice bounce back after going 20-18-4 with a 3.06 GAA and .899 save percentage last season. “I don’t think I do anything special out there,” he said. “I don’t do anything flashy. Obviously, I make some bigger saves, but that’s usually when you’re out of position. I just try to be in the right position most of the time and make boring saves.” Boring? Not quite. He has been the backbone of a strong start despite injury issues, which sank the team last season. “He has been great. He has been keeping us in some games, making some big saves when needed,” Hartman said. “That’s huge for teams that want to go far in the season.” Then, of course, there was that goal — only the 15th by a goalie in the history of the NHL, according to the league. With his team down 3-1, Blues coach Drew Bannister pulled Jordan Binnington (23 saves) with 44 seconds left and called a timeout. During the break, Marc-Andre Fleury told Gustavsson that, with a two-goal lead, he should try to score. “I was like, ‘Yeah, if I get the chance, I’ll try it,’ ” Gustavsson said. After taking a relatively easy shot from a Blues player, Gustavsson declined to stop the puck and instead threw it high over the skaters. Boom. “Exciting,” Fleury said. “I mean, textbook.” Tuesday’s win was big in many ways for the Wild, but it will likely be remembered for what Gustavsson did with 9 seconds remaining — even if he was lights-out before that, allowing only a Zack Bolduc goal in the final 8 minutes. “I usually complain about my curve not being the right angle to get it that high,” he said. “But I don’t know, extra powers or something.” Sure seems like it. Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) defends against St. Louis Blues’ Jake Neighbours (63) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)