Dubnyk sensational again, gets rewarded in Dallas

DALLAS -- Following a win on Tuesday night against the Arizona Coyotes, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said goaltender Devan Dubnyk was his team's "world."
Friday night in Dallas -- and specifically during a firewagon second period at American Airlines Center -- Dubnyk was out of this world in a 3-1 win against the host Stars.
Dubnyk made 24 saves in the second frame alone, keeping the Wild in a scoreless tie after 40 minutes in a game that, after a rather tight first period, became inexplicably loose.

The Stars were aided by a pair of power plays in the period, but largely created their offense organically. Included in the barrage were no fewer than a half dozen grade-A chances that Dubnyk calmly turned aside.

"If it wasn't for Duby they could've had five," Boudreau said. "We count our blessings for sure. And it should give us a lot of energy knowing we're tied at the end of the second when a team has 24 shots on goal against."
Among the stops made by Dubnyk in the second period alone:
• A right-pad stop on Stars sniper Tyler Seguin.
• A blocker save on a blast by Roman Polak from the point, then a right-pad save on Devin Shore's rebound chance.

• A sliding robbery of forward Tyler Pitlick.

• A sprawling stop on Stars captain Jamie Benn.

• And perhaps the pièce de résistance, a sliding 2-on-1 thievery on Mattias Janmark after a setup by Devin Shore gave him what should have been a tap in. Instead, Dubnyk slid over and stoned him with the right pad.

"It's huge knowing he can step up and bail us out. It's a nice thing to have. We have to continue to support him and not put him in those situations," said Wild defenseman Ryan Suter, who scored the game-winning goal in the third period in his first game back in Dallas since last season's freak injury. "All of our guys right now, not everyone is going 100 percent. It takes time. Every season it takes some time for guys to get up to speed and Duby is keeping us in games and giving us a chance and that's huge."

Every game, it seems as though Dubnyk has been answering the same questions: "What kind of zone are you in?" "What has led to your play so far?" "What are you doing differently?"
Each time, the answer has been basically the same.
"That's my job, obviously. They've got some very, very high-end skill with players that everybody knows about and they put that on display in the second. They're gonna be able to make plays like that, they got a few power plays and they had some time in our end," Dubnyk said. "You just gotta keep working as hard as you can."
Pressed further, Dubnyk did finally share some insight into his hot start, one where he's posted a 2.11 goals-against average and a ridiculous .944 save percentage.

"I just feel patient and that's a big part of my game so when you're seeing pucks well and able to read off our guys really well, they work hard for me in front, that allows me to sit and wait and you're not going down early for pucks," Dubnyk said. "So if it hits a body or a guy makes a good pass, if you're on your two blades, it gives you a chance to get over there. I could get into some boring goalie stuff, but I won't bore you with that."
Dubnyk has been quick to defer credit to his teammates, who turned on the jets in the third period following a Stars goal less than a minute into the frame.
Even that came on a deflected shot that was seemingly headed well wide of the goal.

After allowing 24 shots on goal in the second, Minnesota surrendered just four in the third, including the goal.
In the meantime, the Wild cranked up the pressure on Stars goaltender Ben Bishop, peppering him with 15 shots and scoring three goals.
Matt Dumba got things going with his third goal, cleaning up a rebound nine minutes after the Stars took the lead. Suter's game winner banked in off Esa Lindell's ... midsection ... for the game-winner, and Zach Parise scored into an empty net with one minute remaining in regulation to close things out.

"What I keep saying about this team, even if things don't really seem to be going our way, we're not getting much going, I know that if I can just hold the fort down, at some point in the game, we're gonna turn it around," Dubnyk said. "And for us to come out and give up one shot after an early goal in the third period and then score two goals to win, that says a lot about us."
Despite his gaudy stats early in the year, the one thing that's been slow to come have been the victories. Even those have started to come of late.
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And after a gargantuan effort in the second period on Friday, the Wild knew it needed to do something to make sure Dubnyk found the win column for a second consecutive outing.
"[He] made some unbelievable saves," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. "That's a guy who's been here, he's had amazing starts right from the get-go and you feel really good getting the win for a guy that played that hard."
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