The goal horn was sounding from start to finish in Arizona as the Wild (17-14-5) took down the Coyotes 8-5 Thursday night.
It was Devan Dubnyk’s first appearance in a month (14 games) as he’s been home in Canada with his wife, who is enduring a serious medical situation. While Dubnyk was rusty, the offense picked him up with four goals in both the second and third periods.
The best moment of the night came after the game in the locker room as the team recognized Dubnyk, to which the 33-year-old net minder thanked his teammates for putting up an “8 spot.”
Welcome back, Duby. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/iATb1LxRs5
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 20, 2019
Scoring for the Wild:
- 2nd period: Ryan Donato, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, Eric Staal
- 3rd period: Brad Hunt, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Suter, Luke Kunin
Minnesota led 4-2 entering the third before the Coyotes tied the game with a pair of goals in the first 3:22 of the third. Later, a 6-4 lead was shrunk to 6-5 with more than 14 minutes remaining, only to have the Wild add two more late to secure a season-high in goals.
Minnesota has secured points in 15 of 18 games and now gets to play 18 of its next 22 games at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
“We’ll be dying to get on the road again,” joked coach Bruce Boudreau after the game, via Wild.com. “No, too much of either place is not good. You get stale if you’re at home; not too many teams win 10-in-a-row at home or anything like that.
“But listen, we can’t wait to get home. We’ve been loving it there and hopefully it will continue next week.”
Minnesota is 9-1-3 on home ice this season, and they’ll host division rival Winnipeg at 1 p.m. Saturday.
