from Michael Russo of Russo's Rants,
Dubnyk has given the Wild quality goaltending since his Jan. 14 arrival and slowly but surely signs of the good Wild, not the bad Wild, have reappeared.
Remember Jan. 13 when the Wild actually played well for two periods in Pittsburgh but still lost 7-2?
Remember the 25-minute postgame player-only meeting that almost made my deadline-panicked heart go kaput?
After the game, the word “trust” was thrown around at record pace. Trust the system, trust each other, trust the beat writer (I made that up), trust, trust, trust....
Prior to that goalie arrival from Arizona, the Wild had lost six in a row and 12 of 14. Since a 7-0 win at Buffalo the night after Dubnyk’s acquisition, the Wild is 6-1-1 in its past eight and has won four in a row. Dubnyk is 6-1, having started all eight games, with a 1.48 goals-against average and .943 save percentage.
The Wild’s game has streamed back together and trust and confidence is back in the locker room.
Sounds simple, but Yeo said, “It started with one win. We needed that win. We were reeling, let’s be honest. We were reeling at that time and the one win allowed us to settle into things. There’s a better focus on our own job right now, there’s a better trust. It was a tough thing to overcome, but hopefully we learned from that.”
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