Boudreau's gamble flips the script in Wild win against Senators

ST. PAUL -- Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Faced with a dire situation with seven minutes remaining in a tied hockey game on Wednesday, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau did something he said he's never done before: he pulled his goaltender with the game completely in the balance.
Fortunately for the Wild, the move paid off, as Minnesota scored just more than a minute after in an eventual 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild appeared well on its way to a comfortable win, up by three goals headed to the third period. But then Thomas Chabot scored shorthanded 52 seconds into the period to make it 4-2.
When Christian Jaros made it 4-3 with 8 1/2 minutes left in regulation, Boudreau knew his team was in trouble.
Just 83 seconds after that, the game was suddenly tied.
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At that moment, Boudreau had two options: call timeout or make an unprecedented move ... at least by his standards.
He pulled starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk.
"I've never made that change in my life," Boudreau said. "And you know I don't want to make that change. But I thought we needed a break without calling a timeout, because sometimes you call a timeout and that energizes the other team because they think you're afraid."

To be clear, Boudreau has pulled his goaltender before. But he couldn't recall a time he'd done it, with the game tied and with just seven minutes remaining in regulation.
"It has a double effect," Boudreau explained. "The guy that's going in is cold as ice. It's like putting a guy in for a shootout and exchanging goalies, so you don't want to do that. But I just thought it was needed at that time."
As awkward as it is for the coach to make that move, it was even more so for both Wild goaltenders.
Stalock sat on the bench for the first 52 minutes, 39 seconds of the game and was being called on, in a tie game, to save the night for a team that had been on its heels for the better part of 13 straight minutes.
"It's different, for sure. It's different," Stalock said. "I don't know what else to say. Duby fought hard all game and obviously ... we gotta learn what happened against Buffalo, close teams out. We went up 4-1, but it's not over there. We've gotta do more."

Dubnyk watched from his crease as Stalock prepared to enter the game, slowly tightening his gear, grabbing his glove, blocker and helmet and skating to the crease in front of 19,035 stunned fans.
What was 60 seconds in real time likely seemed a lot longer.
"I never want to be taken out of a game, so at no point did I..." Dubnyk said, his voice trailing off. "Obviously, I feel like I'm in control and can play and feel like played enough games to stick it out."
Whatever effect it had on the Wild, it worked.
Minnesota's fourth line gained control of the puck and pressured, forcing the Sens to take an icing.
Ten more seconds elapsed before Eric Staal scored his second goal of the night to take back the momentum in one fell swoop.

"We were as happy as anyone in the building," said Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, who also scored twice in the game. "That might have been exciting from a fan's perspective, but we weren't having too much fun in the third. It lit a fire in us and Staalsy took it into his own hands. That gave us a little more confidence the last five [minutes]."
Staal credited the move with calming the bench.
"Any time a goaltender is pulled, you see a little bit of a momentum shift. The timing, they had all the momentum, but it maybe shifted it a little bit," Staal said. "I couldn't imagine being a goalie, with seven minutes left, going in like Al did. That's why they play goalie and I don't."
"You feel bad for Duby. He's been one of our best players all year, and when something like that happens ... it's just his position is so magnified. But you gotta keep playing, get back out there and do your best. That's all you can do, and I thought we did that."

Eric Fehr added an empty-net goal with 38 seconds left to ice one of the most unusual victories for the Wild in recent memory.
All that matters is that we found a way," said Wild forward Mikael Granlund. "They scored a couple goals and we tightened up. But we battled back and got the 'W' and that is all that matters."
Related:
Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 6, Senators 4