Minnesota Wild backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper will make his fourth consecutive start in net, when the Wild take the ice Tuesday night at home against Vancouver.
Kuemper recorded his first shutout since Oct. 23, 2014 on Saturday night when he turned away all 25 shots he faced as the Wild pulled out a 2-0 victory in San Jose.
Darcy Kuemper will start in net for the #mnwild tomorrow. Devan Dubnyk will be the backup, his first time dressing since suffering injury.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) December 14, 2015
Wild coach Mike Yeo gave a lot of the credit to the way Kuemper has practiced since not playing much in November.
“Looks very comfortable, looks very confident and obviously has a lot of the right habits from the things he’s been doing in practice,” Yeo told reporters Monday.
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Kuemper stepped in when Devan Dubnyk suffered a strained groin in a game against Colorado. While Dubnyk practiced for the second time Monday since the injury, Yeo said the plan was to come back with Kuemper.
“Probably needs another day, but regardless we were going to come back with Kuemps anyway,” Yeo said.
The Star Tribune’s Michael Russo notes that Kuemper has allowed just four goals over the last four games – only two of those goals came in regulation. His play helped Minnesota continue its streak of seven straight games with a point.
“I’m not the least bit surprised,” Dubnyk told reporters about Kuemper. “I hope nobody is. He’s a great goaltender. That’s a backup job. Injuries happen and to be able to come in and give the guys a few great games, he did a great job of that. Those are big points for us.”
Dubnyk said he felt good Monday and didn’t have any of the hesitancy he was feeling last week.
