Devan Dubnyk has been sensational and one of the main reasons for the Minnesota Wild’s mid-season turnaround that landed that club in the playoffs.
But on Saturday, he was caught leaning slightly off his post to his left and Vladimir Tarasenko buried his shot on Dubnyk from a bad angle, giving the St. Louis Blues a two-goal lead in a game they would eventually win to even the first-round series with Minnesota.
Dubnyk admitted to his error afterward.
“That’s just a mistake by me. It’s not a good goal,” Dubnyk told NHL.com. “I came off my post on a guy (who) likes to shoot, who’s got a pretty good shot and he made me pay for it. That’s a mistake by me that cost me a goal against. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Despite going down two goals after the first period, the Wild scored early in the third and then had a chance to tie the game later on, but couldn’t convert. Charlie Coyle’s shot off the cross bar hit the backside of Jake Allen and trickled toward the goal line, but David Backes pulled the puck away from the net, maintaining the Blues’ lead.
The Wild still get the split in St. Louis, with the series shifting back to Minnesota.
“Listen, we would’ve loved to have won both games in here,” said Minnesota’s coach Mike Yeo, as per a video on the club’s website.
“But when it comes down to it, I think we can take some confidence out of the fact that we won the one game and played pretty strong in the second game and even to battle back against a team that’s tough to generate offence against. That’s a pretty good sign.”