It was a wild finish in the Wild’s 6-4 win over the Senators in St. Paul on Wednesday night.
Minnesota was in control with a 4-1 lead entering the third period, but a short-handed goal for Ottawa made it 4-2, and not long after it was suddenly a 4-3 game.
Fast forward 83 seconds and the game was tied 4-4 and the Xcel Energy Center crowd went silent.
So what did head coach Bruce Boudreau do to settle his team down? He pulled goalie Devan Dubnyk from the game with just over seven minutes to play, a move rarely made that late in game.
“I’ve never made that change in my life,” Boudreau said after the game. “And you know I don’t want to make that change. But I thought we needed a break without calling a timeout, because sometimes you call a timeout and that energizes the other team because they think you’re afraid.”
The bold move paid off as the Wild scored less than a minute later, and Alex Stalock, the backup goalie, finished strong despite replacing Dubynk cold off the bench.
Eric Staal wound up scoring the go-ahead goal, one of his two tallies on the night.
“I couldn’t imagine being a goalie, with seven minutes left, going in like Al did. That’s why they play goalie and I don’t,” Staal said.
The Wild (13-7-2) get Thanksgiving Day off before hosting the Winnipeg Jets at 3 p.m. on Friday.
