Minnesota Wild: What’s wrong with the Wild?
2. Devan Dubnyk needs to be better
Simply put, Dubnyk has performed well-below expectations. Everything starts with Dubnyk. When he is on his game, the Wild are a team to be reckoned with. When he’s confident, so are the Wild. Unfortunately, neither of those have been the case thus far. Through 10 games he has a 3.07 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
He has struggled mightily and it’s clear that he’s fighting pucks every other game.
Monday night against the Bruins, Dubnyk was pulled after the second period. He gave up 4 goals on 24 shots, and Frank Vatrano’s goal to make it 2-1 was as egregious as they come.
The Devan Dubnyk that Wild fans are used to know that this shot is stopped 99% of the time. Actually, scratch that: Any goalie should stop a shot from above the top of the circle, no screen, and from an awful angle.
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Speaking of awful angles, that’s just how Dubnyk was positioned. Down in the butterfly position, he seemed unaware of the giant gap between himself and the post. What is supposed to be a goaltender’s best friend, actually turned out to be Dubnyk’s worst enemy. But only because he allowed that to happen. The puck bounced off the post, and the off of Dubnyk and into the back of the net.
Dubnyk flung around in a hurry, shocked and erratic as he has been all season long.
The Wild need their best player’s numbers to improve drastically if it wants to start winning games.