Goaltenders who switch teams generally play against their old friends at some point in their career. In the special case of Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk; this is happening sooner rather than later. Dubnyk was the first trade in Arizona’s proclaimed rebuild this past week as management looks to turn this program around. The Coyotes snagged a third round pick in this deal but also received the pleasure of facing this goaltender only two days after his desert departure.
Dubnyk spoke about facing his former team. WATCH: http://t.co/ysGHYGzWTO #mnwild
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 17, 2015
Devan Dubnyk is undefeated with a 1.000 save percentage and a 0.00 goals against average with the Minnesota Wild.
Devan Dubnyk looked very impressive in his shutout win against the Buffalo Sabres last Thursday. Will we see that same effort tonight in Minnesota? Quite possibly. Dubnyk knows how this team operates and that is definitely a disadvantage for the Arizona Coyotes. Instead of having Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson clear pucks in front of him; they will be throwing pucks at him. Instead of relying on Martin Hanzal’s big body to make plays on the other end of the ice; it will be hindering his vision. This is a strange concept that will be interesting to watch as the game unfolds.
This will be Dubnyk’s eleventh start against the Coyotes in his career and his numbers against Arizona are not very good. He is 2-6-2 with a 3.26 goals against average and a .900 save percentage but with the knowledge he holds from the Coyotes organization; a different trend may begin. On the other side of the ice, Mike Smith is 4-7-1 with a 2.12 goals against and a .914 save percentage in his career against the Wild. The goaltenders will definitely be in the spotlight tonight.