Despite changes, Wild's Parise still has some ties to Devils

Sunday's game against the team he once captained was only the fourth time in four seasons Zach Parise has faced the New Jersey Devils.

"As time goes, there's been so much change there, players-wise and with [GM] Lou [Lamoriello] being gone, it just feels like another game," Parise said before scoring his first goal against his old team. "Still some of my closest friends are there [Travis Zajac, Andy Greene and Adam Henrique], but for the most part, there's a lot of different faces than I'm used to."

Parise hopes the Devils find stability with GM Ray Shero and coach John Hynes.

"When I was there, we had Larry [Robinson] and then Lou took over with John MacLean," Parise said. "And then Claude Julien came in and Lou fired him and Lou and John MacLean took over. We had Brent Sutter for two years and then he left and Jacques [Lemaire] came in. Then John MacLean got hired, and he got fired and Jacques came back before Pete [DeBoer] came my last year.

"So, basically, I'm a coach killer," Parise said, laughing.

Parise, 31, has been a poster child for consistency. In 502 games with the Devils, he scored 194 goals, 216 assists and 410 points. With the Wild, he has scored 95 goals, 87 assists and 182 points in 221 games.

That's .386 goals per game, .43 assists per game and .816 points per game with the Devils and .432 goals per game, .391 assists per game and .824 points per game for the Wild.

The one-year anniversary of the Wild's acquisition of goalie Devan Dubnyk is Thursday. Dubnyk has won 45 of 73 appearances with the Wild with a 2.02 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and nine shutouts.

Sunday, he backed up Darcy Kuemper after a terrific 34-save effort the night before in Dallas. He committed several highway robberies, but his most athletic series of saves came in the first when he was down and out but made a spastic stop on Jyrki Jokipakka.

"There's a reason guys used to lay down like that. You cover a pretty good amount of net," Dubnyk said, laughing. "You don't want to just swing, but you try to get your eye on it and if he shoots high, start swinging your leg and your arm and do whatever you can."

Winger Chris Porter was scratched for the second consecutive game Sunday. Defenseman Nate Prosser (hand) missed the game, so rookie Mike Reilly made his home debut.

• Thomas Vanek's game-winning goal Saturday at Dallas was the 50th of his career.