Team Pacific 9
Team Central 6
The Wild’s lone representative at the NHL All-Star Game got one match in – but Devan Dubnyk’s Team Central squad couldn’t keep up, losing 9-6 to Team Pacific in round one and getting ousted from the mini tournament.
Dubnyk played 8:09 in the contest, giving up 5 goals on 13 shots (for a .615 save percentage).
The 29-year-old was put into the game for the second (and final) period, with things knotted at 3-3. He proceeded to give up 5 goals, including 2 apiece to Taylor Hall and Daniel Sedin.
His fellow goalkeeper, Pekka Rinne of the Predators, played 10 minutes (the entire first period) and gave up 3 goals on 8 shots.
🎥 WATCH Dubnyk's first appearance in the #NHLAllStar Game: https://t.co/GFzxGLHA3h #mnwild pic.twitter.com/divdvlkB1W
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 1, 2016
The format this year was brand new: Each of the NHL’s four divisions got an All-Star team (Dubnyk was the only Wild player on the Central squad). On the ice, the skaters were trimmed down to 3-on-3, and the games were made up of two 10-minutes periods.
The teams were then broken up into a two-round tournament.
Team Central played Team Pacific in the semifinals – Pacific won 9-6 (ending Dubynk’s All-Star weekend). And Team Atlantic beat Team Metropolitan, 4-2.
That set up the Pacific and Atlantic squads for the final – and the Pacific won 1-0, on a goal from Corey Perry of the Ducks 3:38 into the second period (with an assist to former Wild defenseman Brent Burns).
Up next
The Wild (23-17-9) have 55 points coming out of the All-Star break, and are 1 point behind Nashville for the final Wild Card spot. Minnesota gets a day off Monday, then is back in action Tuesday night, on the road against the New York Islanders (25-16-6).
