We've got ourselves a backup goalie controversy.
Obviously I say that tongue in cheek, but one night after Darcy Kuemper gave up three against Buffalo, Niklas Backstrom was awesome tonight in his first start since Jan. 13 and his first start since offseason elbow surgery.
I was worried there was a bad omen during the national anthem when one of the equipment guys threw Backstrom his water bottle. The thing basically exploded on the ice and caused a huge puddle of water.
But I was wrong.
Playing against a very quality lineup put forth by Winnipeg, Backstrom posted a 28-save shutout in the Wild's 1-0 overtime exhibition win tonight. Not a bad initial showing for Backstrom after not giving up a goal in two scrimmages (1 ½ games) this past weekend (other than one 3-on-3 goal).
Matt Dumba, the kid who scored that exciting overtime winner late last season in Nashville off a couple sensational plays by Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, scored with 47.4 seconds left of 3-on-3 play tonight.
Charlie Coyle and Justin Fontaine got the assists, with Fontaine threading the needle with a pass by Alexander Burmistrov in the right circle to put Dumba in alone. From the backdoor, Dumba roofed the winner over top of Connor Hellebuyck. The goalie had just robbed Tyler Graovac on a one-timer the shift before. Ondrej Pavelec played two periods of spotless hockey and made a bunch of good saves on guys like Graovac, Coyle, Dumba and Erik Haula.
Backstrom stopped all 25 shots he faced in regulation, including Thomas Raffl on a breakaway and Blake Wheeler with an outstretched right pad. In OT, he stoned Mark Scheifele on a breakaway and absolutely robbed Mathieu Perreault from point-blank range to stun the MTS Centre. Remember back when Perreault played for Anaheim, he scored an OT winner against Backstrom just seconds from a shootout.