Fletcher attributed some of Dubnyk's performance in March to both fatigue and to the team in front of him not defending as well as they had been from October to February.
One of the key factors in that fatigue, Fletcher said, was the lack of a steady hand behind Dubnyk in the busiest stretch of the season. Darcy Kuemper made just two starts in March and appeared in another contest in relief of Dubnyk that month.
Nearing the end of the season, Dubnyk started 16 games in 30 days, including two back-to-backs in late February and mid-March.
"You need your backup goalie to win games and to play games," Fletcher said. "Maybe if your No. 1 guy is a little tired or having a tough stretch maybe to be able to sit him for a week and have your backup guy go in for a few games, that stuff is critical."
Fletcher praised the play of Alex Stalock, the former UMD Bulldog who signed with Minnesota last summer and spent the majority of his season down in Iowa. Stalock was called up late in March, and he recorded a .944 save percentage and a 1.51 goals-against average in two contests with Minnesota.
With Kuemper's contract up this summer, there is some potential for a Dubnyk-Stalock goaltending tandem next season, but Fletcher wouldn't offer specifics beyond his confidence in his options in goal.
As for Dubnyk, the Wild's No. 1, he'll take some time to recover physically, even though he can't stop himself from thinking through the season during the months ahead. He feels like the team took great steps forward this year and will continue to grow as next season approaches.
"When you come into a season you want to continue to get better, and you want to find ways to be better than years before and better than the game before and build," Dubnyk said. "And I thought we did an extremely good job as a group. Everybody's disappointed how playoffs finished up.
"That's what you can do is go in and all make sure that next year you prepare the same way. And to shoot for 40 or more [wins] again is going to be the goal, and if that's the case, then we should be in a good spot going into the postseason again."