Dubnyk continues stellar play with shutout against Chicago

ST. PAUL -- After a workmanlike, 44-save shutout against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau paid his netminder the ultimate complement.
"This was like he played the first half of last year today," Boudreau said.
Dubnyk was the likely front runner for the Vezina Trophy for much of last season, including a dominant first part of the campaign.

And while the coach's words were fitting praise, they were also accurate. Dubnyk was sturdy all night long, making both great saves and routine saves look ... well, routine. Rarely did he leave a loose puck or a rebound available for a Chicago player to poke away at.
"That's a big part of my game," said Dubnyk, who recorded the second-most saves during a shutout in franchise history, extending Minnesota's club-record point streak to 12 games (tied for the NHL's longest this season). "Obviously, I don't play flashy, but a very important part is controlling the play and controlling pucks that come my way. If I'm able to do that, it gives me an opportunity to make 40 saves."

Wild players were blocking shots left and right in front of Dubnyk, taking on 26 of them in all, including five apiece by shot-blocking extraordinaires Nate Prosser and Jared Spurgeon.
Spurgeon took one inside the left knee and missed a chunk of the first period, but returned for the second. Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker each went to the bench stinging in the third period before returning.
But when a goaltender has a zero on the scoreboard, the guys in front of him will do just about anything to help him protect it.

"You usually see guys getting pucks deep and making really simple plays when they get the puck in the neutral zone," Dubnyk said. "We were short-handed there (with the Chicago net empty) for 4, 4 1/2 minutes there and the guys were just working out there for me. There's no other way to get shutouts in this League. You don't go out there and get them by yourself."
Dubnyk made his 380th NHL start on Saturday; 205 of them have come in a Wild uniform. The shutout was his 19th since joining Minnesota in January of 2015 -- the most in the NHL during that span.
He had just nine in his first 175 NHL starts with Edmonton, Nashville and Arizona.
"It's been a great fit. I've really felt at home since the second I got here," Dubnyk said. "We're a good, veteran group and a really good team. I've certainly had more opportunities to get them in the second half [of my career] than I did in the first half. I'm just happy to be here."

This season, Dubnyk is posting yet another campaign with a save percentage that is better than his career number of .917.
Unfortunately, his goals-against average has been skewed.
Dubnyk allowed four goals or more in four of the first six games of the season and has been victimized two other times for six goals against. Yet he's posted a 13-3-2 record in 20 games played since Nov. 30, with a 2.36 goals-against and .927 save percentage during that span.
Take out one ugly six-goal game in Denver on Jan. 6, and Dubnyk's goals-against average drops to 2.25 during the stretch.
That's Vezina-level play for the better part of three months.
"That's not up to me to be self-promoting. It's not what's important," Dubnyk said. "The most important thing for me is feeling good about my game and these guys in the room feeling good about my game.
"I know I feel as good as I ever have in the net, as comfortable as I ever have as far as understanding what works and what doesn't for me and being able to switch on if I'm off a little bit. Hopefully these guys in the room feel the same way."
Related:
- Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Blackhawks 0 - Watch: Bruce Boudreau postgame vs. Chicago - Watch: Locker room postgame vs. Chicago