Mar 28, 2015
Thumbs up to Dubnyk...again
On Saturday, Dave Hodge has his thumbs up to the Minnesota Wild's season saver, goaltender Devyn Dubnyk. His thumbs are down, though, to just slightly less than blatant attempts at tanking in the NHL.
By Dave Hodge
I know this is getting monotonous, but thumbs up to Devan Dubnyk. How good has he been as a member of the Minnesota Wild? So good that it is taken for granted that he will start every game in goal and he will win most of the time.
For the record, Friday's 4-2 victory over Calgary was Dubnyk's 25th victory for the Wild against only six regulation-time losses. His iron-man streak in a Minnesota uniform stands at 33 consecutive starts. But, understandably, the writers of game stories involving the Wild have taken to searching for different angles, lest they write the same report over and over again. I read about Zach Parise's 30th goal and Thomas Vanek's 20th as part of Minnesota's latest win.
Near the end, it was barely mentioned that Dubnyk had made 23 saves. So he wasn't that busy and he didn't make the headlines. Dubnyk is only guaranteed to be the lead item if he's sitting on the bench when the first puck is dropped.
But when they write the story of Minnesota's season, however it ends, you can bet Dubnyk's name will appear in the first sentence.
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Thumbs down to those who want to congratulate the Buffalo Sabres for their looming 30th-place finish, but who aren't willing to criticize the Arizona Coyotes for helping to make that possible. It has come to this with the NHL's constant talk of the benefits of tanking - Sam Gagner did something wrong by scoring an overtime goal. So, for that matter, did Buffalo captain Brian Gionta by scoring the goal that sent Thursday's game into overtime. If tanking is the way to go, two teams should have been trying to lose. Really? How would that have looked? What would the NHL have done about it if it were that obvious, and two teams trying to lose would be that obvious? You're supposed to try to win. Obviously.
The Sabres and Coyotes play again on Monda and, again, one of them will win...maybe even by trying harder than the other. Call that team a bunch of dummies and see how it feels to be one yourself.