After win, Dubnyk imparts a little goalie philosophy

One game after taking responsibility for a blowout loss in New Jersey, goalie Devan Dubnyk redeemed himself by making 31 saves and another two in a shootout to lead the Wild to its sixth consecutive victory over Carolina.

Dubnyk improved to 2-1 in games after being pulled this season.

"As a goalie, it's a reactive position," he said. "You can't want to go out there and make 50 saves. If you only get 10 shots, that's all you can do. So my job and my focus is to go out there and give these guys a good feeling and a good chance to win every game.

"You can't approach it that I have to go out there and win a game. I have to go out there and make big saves and have these guys feel comfortable and give them a chance to win a game and then see what happens from there."

With backup Darcy Kuemper sidelined with an upper-body injury, the net could be Dubnyk's for a while. With youngster Steve Michalek recalled as backup, Dubnyk will start Sunday night's game in Chicago, one of two sets of back-to-backs left. In last season's final six sets of back-to-backs, Dubnyk went 5-0-1 with a 1.14 goals-against average and .968 save percentage in the back end.

Since the All-Star break, Dubnyk's game has been up and down. He's 9-7-1 in 18 starts with a 2.75 goals-against average and .901 save percentage.

"Hey, he's our guy, we all know that," coach John Torchetti said. "He competes. I love it. I think he's going to do a great job."

Torchetti didn't give too many details as to why he scratched veteran Thomas Vanek, the team's fourth-leading scorer. But the coach made it clear during the recent road trip when he scratched Jason Zucker that Vanek too was in jeopardy.

Vanek's effort has been erratic and he has no goals, three assists and 14 shots in the past 10 games. "We put the lineup in that we feel is going to win the game," Torchetti said.

Zucker's goal 16 seconds into the third period – his third goal in the first 20 seconds of a period this season — was challenged by Hurricanes coach Bill Peters for the Wild being offside. After review, linesman Derek Amell ruled good goal.

The Wild was relieved because of a few peculiar offside rulings lately. In a home game against Washington last month, it looked like Nicklas Backstrom didn't keep a puck in before Alex Ovechkin's third goal. In a recent game against St. Louis, the Wild felt Kyle Brodziak was offside before a Ryan Reaves goal. "I thought for sure that was going to be off," Zucker said. "I didn't see the replay, but you never know."

Ryan Carter didn't travel to Chicago after Saturday's game because of an upper-body injury. Kuemper and injured Jason Pominville also didn't make the trip.