from Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press,

Sports are an escape for many. But that’s not how veteran goaltender Devan Dubnyk is looking at his return to the Wild net Thursday night.

Dubnyk, 33, has been away from the ice for the past month as he and his wife Jenn search for answers regarding a serious medical issue she has been dealing with. And he isn’t about to forget her situation.

It’s not really something I want to escape from,” he said. “You don’t want to forget about it. It’s good to be conscious about it. But I’m not going to be thinking about it in the middle of a game or something like that.”

Dubnyk hasn’t played in a game since a Nov. 16 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, leaving the Wild a few days later to be with his wife and three small children, and watching backup goaltenders Alex Stalock and Kaapo Kahkonen play solidly enough in his absence to turn the team’s prospects around.

Dubnyk has still practiced intermittently with the teammates whenever they’ve been in the Twin Cities, and after making the current road trip, it sounds like coach Bruce Boudreau is ready to throw him back into the lineup Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes.

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