With plenty of rest on the horizon, the Wild is tabbing goalie Devan Dubnyk to finish out the team's back-to-back Sunday against the Canucks before the team pauses for its bye week.
Dubnyk made 32 saves Saturday in the 4-1 win over the Jets.
"Well, so far, I've decided to go back to Devan," coach Bruce Boudreau said, referring to the fact Dubnyk is awaiting the arrival of a baby boy.
Since this is the team's second game in as many nights, the start figures to be key.
The Wild put a franchise-record 23 shots on goal in the first period Saturday, setting the tone for its eventual win over a division rival, and another effective opening frame would go a long way against a rested Canucks squad.
"I think it's going to be important because they're knowing that we played an emotional game yesterday," Boudreau said. "… They're going to be sitting there hoping we're not ready to play against them. But hopefully that's not the case. Hopefully we come out and we realize the last two games in this building they've beaten us 1-0 and 2-1. We haven't respected them as much as we should have. When they get their lineup together, they're pretty good. They're starting to get healthy again, so I expect them to be very good tonight."
Actually, translating the team's entire strategy against the Jets might be best.
Aside from the start, the Wild limited its trips to the penalty box, capitalized on the power play and had multiple lines in a groove in the offensive zone – all this in addition to timely stops by Dubnyk.
