WINNIPEG – Hours after Wild coach Mike Yeo definitively said Devan Dubnyk was fine and there was "nothing" wrong with him, the Wild goalie clearly played through a knee injury and admitted as such after the Wild's 5-4 loss to the Jets.
Dubnyk, who said after his shutout Saturday night against Anaheim that he heard one of his knees "pop," relieved Darcy Kuem- per early in the second period Sunday and soon showed the effects of the knee issue. Dubnyk had trouble getting off the ice a few times, spent the entirety of one TV timeout conferring with athletic therapist Don Fuller at the bench and spent many stoppages stretching.
During one flurry, Dubnyk somehow made three superb saves in a row while dealing with the obvious soreness and discomfort.
Between the second and third periods, Dubnyk said he received treatment and it was determined that since "it's not something structural … it's not going to get worse if you keep playing." So Dubnyk re-entered and finished the game.
"I wanted to stay in there and see if we could have a chance to come back," Dubnyk said.
But Dubnyk admitted, "It's hard to play when you're thinking about whether or not you're capable of making certain movements."
Still, despite "a tough 18 minutes there in the second," Dubnyk still maintained, "I fully believe that it's going to be fine going forward. I'm sure I'll be fine for" Tuesday's game against Edmonton.
The Wild has Niklas Backstrom on the roster as a third goalie but chose to dress Dubnyk as the backup despite the injury. A Wild spokesperson wouldn't say if Backstrom was on the trip to Winnipeg
