Dubnyk shuts out Flames for Wild in first home start in five weeks

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves in his first home start since Nov. 16 in the Minnesota Wild's 3-0 win against the Calgary Flames at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.

Dubnyk had missed 15 games attending to a medical situation relating to his wife, Jenn.
"It's nice to get back," said Dubnyk. "I just wanted to get back to feeling like myself and just being confident. It's been a while since I've had to go through the adversity of the start of the season here. It's easy to let yourself worry about wins or losses or worry about getting scored on. I just tried to come back from the break and just go in and feel confident and be myself and it feels good to go out there and do that and just forget everything else and then see where we are at the end of the year."
WATCH: [All Flames vs. Wild highlights]
Luke Kunin had a goal and an assist and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored for the Wild (18-15-5), who are 10-1-3 in their past 14 home games heading into the Christmas break..
Cam Talbot made 31 saves for the Flames (19-15-5), who defeated the Dallas Stars 5-1 on Sunday.
"Everyone plays back-to-backs. You've got to sometimes manage yourself out there," Talbot said. "If you're not feeling it, try to make the easy play, the smart play and get it deep. I thought that we turned a few too many pucks over at their blue line and gave them opportunities to come back at us."
Kevin Fiala fed Eriksson Ek in the slot for the one-timer at 4:51 of the second period for a 1-0 lead. It was Ek's first game back after missing the previous four with a lower-body injury.
Kunin made it 2-0 at 9:49 with a one-timer to the corner off a pass from Jordan Greenway.

"We count on everyone in this locker room to have success and I thought we did a good job tonight," said Kunin.
Flames forward Derek Ryan appeared to have scored at 13:59 but the goal was overturned after video review determined he kicked the puck into the net.
Eric Staal scored into an empty net at 17:17 of the third period for the 3-0 score. He has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Dubnyk allowed five goals on 40 shots in his return, an 8-5 win at the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. He made three saves in relief of Alex Stalock in a 6-0 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
"The win is the response [to the loss on Saturday]," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau ."I thought our defense and goaltending played great and we did what we had to do offensively. It wasn't sharp in too many places but anytime you shut out a team 3-0 or 2-0 or anything-nothing, it's a great win. … For the most part I was really happy with the outcome."

They said it

"I thought we gave [Minnesota] a few really good chances in the second, and they capitalized on a couple of them. [Talbot] was great tonight, played really well. It's tough for us. We were trying to generate offense. It seemed like their back pressure was really good, and we couldn't get pucks through like we should. So we've got to work on that, generate more at their net. We'll take our break here and go from there." -- Flames defenseman Mark Giordano
"Every time I answer that question, we lose. We're playing better. You'd certainly like to have the first 10 games back, but that being said I always look at the schedule we have now. Every day in this League is a tough game. I was really happy that we got over the 40-point mark today. I thought that was good." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on using the Christmas break as a benchmark

Need to know

Calgary had 19 hits. … After going 3-for-5 on the power play against Dallas on Sunday, the Flames were 0-for-1 with the man-advantage against Minnesota. … Wild forward Ryan Donato had an assist and has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past nine games. … The Wild reassigned forward Nico Sturm to Iowa of the American Hockey League. Sturm had an assist in 13:22 total ice time.

What's Next

Flames: At the Edmonton Oilers on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNW, NHL.TV)
Wild:At the Colorado Avalanche on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)