The Minnesota Wild beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 Tuesday night, carried by Devan Dubnyk’s outstanding play in net. Minnesota was out-shot 39-18 and Dubnyk had to save 13 of 13 in the third period against the NHL’s leader in third period comebacks.
Minnesota now is one point of the Colorado Avalanche, which have a game in hand until the two teams meet on Saturday in Denver.
“He basically single-handedly got us the win,” Erik Haula, who scored the game’s first goal, told the Pioneer Press. “He almost had 40 saves, and he stood on his head the whole game. He definitely was the backbone tonight.”
Haula’s tally at 3:46 in the first came right after he got a penalty for high sticking. It was his seventh goal and 16th point under interim coach John Torchetti, who improved to 12-6-1 after replacing Mike Yeo. Haula only had five goals and five goals and 14 points in the first 49 games of the season.
Mikko Koivu added a power play goal early in the second, his 10th of the year — a career high. Tyler Toffoli cut the lead to 2-1 later in the period, but that’s all the Kings would get despite leading in shot attempts 74-32.
“We didn’t have it tonight, and (Dubnyk) kept us in that game and gave us a chance to win,” Ryan Suter, whose second-period assist gave him 47 points this season, a franchise record among defensemen, told the Pioneer Press. “What matters is we battled. We knew we didn’t have it, but we just battled and got a win.”
“I thought he was big, competitive and wanted to win and show the team he was going to carry us through that game,” Torchetti told the Star Tribune. “We didn’t get the play that we wanted in front of him, but he was fun to watch because he really competed.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press]
