In St Paul Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild put together a complete effort in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
In the process, the Wild regained a playoff position.
Devan Dubnyk made 38 for the win in a game that the Wild were outshot by 21.
“He was big, competitive and wanted to win, and he wanted to show the team that he
Devan Dubnyk stopped 38 in win over Kings – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
was going to carry us through that game,” Wild coach John Torchetti said. “We didn’t get the play we wanted in front of him. He was fun to watch because he competed and did a great job, even on rebounds, of keeping them close. Just came up big for us.”
The Wild jumped over the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card spot in the west; the Avs were idle but also have a game in hand on the Wild.
Mikko Koivu and Erik Haula scored for the Wild.
“From the start to the very last second, throughout the game, he (Dubnyk) was great, and he got better and better towards the end,” Koivu said. “Huge win for the team and huge effort by him.”
Jonathan Quick took the loss on 16 saves.
“It’s tough to score in this League,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “When you’ve got that many shots [against], you’ve got to make sure you keep the goals-against at one or two and score. That’s how you make the playoffs, and that’s how you win in the playoffs.”
Despite the loss the Kings have clinched a post season berth.
Tyler Toffoli was the lone goal scorer for the Kings.
“I thought we had some decent looks and Drew in particular had some really good shots, they just didn’t go in,” Kings forward Anze Kopitar said. “You’ve got to give [Dubnyk] some credit. Obviously he’s been doing that for quite a while now, so it’s not a surprise. It’s on us. We need to do a better job and make it tougher on him, but credit to him.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.