OTTAWA — Brandon Duhaime had his stick jammed in the crease, but he dropped it and pointed to Connor Dewar.
Rookies Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaime have made journey to Wild together
The fourth-line wingers are getting their shot after working their way up from Iowa of the AHL.
February 23, 2022 at 6:27AM
The goal on Sunday in the Wild's 7-3 shellacking of the Oilers belonged to Dewar, not Duhaime.
"It tricked in, and I knew I didn't touch it," Duhaime said. "So I wanted to make sure he got it."
Duhaime didn't just have a front-row seat to the goal.
He's been along for the ride during Dewar's journey to the NHL the past few years and vice versa, with the two rookie forwards working on the same line in the minors before getting this latest opportunity with the Wild.
"It's good for him to be here," said Duhaime, who scored earlier in the game. "It also helps me playing with him, and we read off each other pretty well."
Duhaime was the first to earn a regular role with the Wild, making the team out of training camp, and the 24-year-old has been in the lineup ever since except for missing two games while on the COVID list.
After a brief four-game stint in which he made his NHL debut in October, Dewar was returned to Iowa in the American Hockey League but was back in action for the Wild in January and hasn't missed a game. His goal Sunday was the second of his career, but the 22-year-old's impact isn't completely captured by statistics.
Same with Duhaime, as both players bring speed to the team's bottom-six forward group and are effective on the forecheck.
"There's no problem playing a hard 10, 12 minutes on the fourth line and not getting any points out of it but a big team win," Duhaime said.
Both debuted with Iowa in 2019-2020, after Duhaime was drafted by the Wild in the fourth round in 2016 and Dewar was selected in the third round two years later, and they were linemates their rookie AHL seasons.
They still tend to be on the ice at the same time, now just with the Wild — two examples of homegrown talent in a league where draft picks don't always translate into roster players.
"That's a big testament to the development team they have in Minnesota," Duhaime said, "from player development guys to AHL coaching staff to nutritionists down there. Everyone's dialed [in] and the goal is if you're in the American League, they want to build you up to be a player in the NHL and I think they do a really good job of that."
Smooth return
Nick Bjugstad had a successful return to the lineup against the Oilers, assisting on both goals by Duhaime and Dewar.
The winger ended up a plus-3 and finished with 11 minutes, 16 seconds of ice time in his first game since the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Target Field after a lengthy absence because of a broken finger.
"I've had six weeks to think about what I could bring to the team," Bjugstad said. "It's nice to be able to execute when you're thinking about it for that long. When you put your mind to it and have a purpose [and] focus going into the game, it usually pays off."
Injury update
Mats Zuccarello didn't play on Tuesday, sitting out because of an upper-body injury.
With Zuccarello out, the Wild added Nico Sturm to the lineup; Sturm joined Dewar and Bjugstad on the fourth line. Wild coach Dean Evason said Zuccarello's injury isn't serious and that the team anticipates him playing Thursday at Toronto.
Elsewhere, Marcus Foligno started in Zuccarello's spot right wing next to Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman while Duhaime was promoted to Foligno's seat alongside Jordan Greenway and Joel Eriksson Ek.
The Wild prevailed 5-4 on Tuesday night, moving back into first place in the NHL with a hard-fought victory in their first trip to Utah. Matt Boldy scored the winner in the shootout.
