Dubnyk's second-period stand allows Wild to open the flood gates

ST. PAUL --There's bound to be plenty of heroes in a 7-1 win.
The Wild had its fair share on Tuesday: Matt Dumba scored a pair of goals. Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund had three-point nights. Nino Niederreiter, Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter each had two points.
But at the end of the day, it was goaltender Devan Dubnyk with the St. Paul Police Sergeant's hat in his locker, awarded the "hero of the game" by his teammates.

"I think they all really like him and they care about him and they know he's gone through a little bit of a rough stretch here," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "They knew he played well and they wanted to reward him and I thought it was the right thing to do."
Dubnyk recovered from perhaps his toughest outing in a Wild uniform by firing a bullet, making 29 saves in the six-goal victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Xcel Energy Center.
Perhaps no stretch of game was more decisive that the first nine minutes of the second period.
Minnesota led by just one as the Canadiens made their biggest push of the night, firing seven shots at the Wild goal.
For one 90-second span, Dubnyk was especially large, first gloving away a point-blank chance by Brendan Gallagher, then stopping a point shot by Jeff Petry, and immediately sliding over to rob Jonathan Drouin on a rebound try on the doorstep.

Any of those shots go in and the game is tied. Instead, Dubnyk preserved the lead.
"I mean, that's my job, that's what I'm here for and it's okay to have to do that once in a while," Dubnyk said. "I thought we did a really good job in front of the net. We were hard on guys that were shooting pucks from the point we were getting blocks or were working on guys if the pucks were laying in front and that's a big part of it."
"There's going to be times where the other team has momentum and is pushing but when you work hard and defend hard like we did were able to get to get out of it and get rewarded by guys going down and putting a bunch in the net."
On Drouin's save in particular, Boudreau had perhaps the line of the night, while also encapsulating what many of the 18,681 inside the building were likely thinking as well.

"I thought, 'A kick save and a beauty,' that's what was going through my head when he made it," Boudreau said. "He looked good after that. That was another sign that he was going to be on."
Just 92 seconds after Dubnyk stoned Drouin, the Wild got the game's first power play, where 1:11 into the man advantage, Minnesota pushed its lead to 2-0 on a goal by Dumba.

The floodgates opened after that, as Minnesota led 5-0 after 40 minutes.
After allowing three goals on six shots in less than nine minutes of play on Friday in Edmonton, Dubnyk answered questions after the game about his confidence. With a pair of off days over the weekend, he stewed about the performance, then was faced with even more scrutiny following a practice Monday at TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center.
Instead of coming back with Alex Stalock on Tuesday, Boudreau chose Dubnyk, almost forecasting a solid game from his netminder following the team's morning skate.
He got it.
"I could tell he was looking much better and probably feeling more confident when the first shot in the first period when he smothered it in his belly. It stuck to him. It didn't bounce. Made me feel a lot more comfortable," Boudreau said. "Really happy for him tonight."

So were his teammates.
"Those saves were game-changers," Granlund said. "It's either 1-1 or we score on the power play to make it 2-0]. We defended a little bit better tonight, but he was great. That was great to see from him."
**Related:**
[Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 7, Canadiens 1