Devan Dubnyk might not get the Vezina Trophy given that he had to spend a good portion of the season with the Arizona Coyotes, but there’s a strong argument to be made that he’s been the most valuable player in the league since mid-January when he was acquired by the Minnesota Wild. He added to his impressive run in Minnesota by leading the Wild to a 2-1 shootout victory over the New York Islanders tonight.
The 28-year-old goaltender turned aside 37 of 38 shots in regulation before beating Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, and John Tavares in the skills competition. Wild forward Zach Parise scored the game-deciding goal.
Dubnyk has now earned 10 straight road victories, becoming just the third active goaltender to accomplish that feat, per the NHL. This is also the longest road winning streak in Minnesota’s history.
"[Dubnyk] just deserves this story right now,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said, per the team’s Twitter feed. “He deserves to be talked about.”
“He was the big reason why we were able to get out of that first period not down 5-0,” Parise told the Pioneer Press’ Chad Graff.
The Wild goaltender now has a 33-11-3 record, 2.07 GAA, and .930 save percentage in 51 games this season, including his time with Arizona.