Wild defenseman Matt Dumba was supposed to be a healthy scratch in last Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but that never happened.
He ended up playing in that game because Marco Scandella (illness) couldn’t suit up.
Going into that tilt, Dumba had one goal and a minus-2 rating in three contests and just hadn’t been playing well enough in head coach Bruce Boudreau’s eyes.
Since the near scratching, Dumba has turned things around significantly. Boudreau has trusted him to take injured defenseman Jared Spurgeon‘s spot on the top pairing with Ryan Suter and that has resulted in a serious boost in ice time (he’s played 23, 26 and 26 minutes in the last three games).
“I didn’t like it,” said the 22-year-old, per the Minneapolis StarTribune. “I took it in a way that if I got back in the lineup I was never going to let that happen again. That’s the kind of motivation that I have. Just pride as a player. I hold myself to a higher standard.”