Defense stands out in Minnesota Wild's tight victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins

Hello to everyone who isn't out celebrating Halloween this fine last Saturday of October. I've got exactly what you're craving: Some postgame Minnesota Wild newsy bits.

First, coach Bruce Boudreau had a lot of praise for his defense after the Wild's 2-1 victory against the Penguins at Xcel Energy Center.

"Today in a low scoring game, I thought we really dug deep, and some guys played their best hockey," Boudreau said. "[Jared] Spurgeon was a monster. Those are the games you wish everybody could see so he'd get some credit for how good he is. And [Jonas] Brodin was right up there. Suts [Ryan Suter] is always good."

Spurgeon grabbed a secondary assist, his third assist in the past two games, and leads the team with seven. Brodin had a game-high five blocked shots while Suter led the team with 26:06 of ice time.

Boudreau was also proud of goalie Devan Dubnyk, who persevered through a less-than-ideal start to the season.

"I don't know how much pressure he has. He's got a lot of pride, and he knew what he's done since the minute he got here," Boudreau said. "He's been one of the elite goalies in the NHL, and when he looks around, and he's not having the kind of start that he envisioned, when you're an elite goalie, you bear down, and you do what you have to do. I thought even in [Friday's] practice, he was stopping pucks and looking defiant, and that's what you wanted to see.

"He's our guy," Boudreau said. "He did a lot of good things in the last couple games that he's played and hasn't been rewarded. I thought his puck handling last game was the best I've ever seen it. He's our guy, and we knew he was getting better and better. So in a big game, who are you going to go to? You're going to go to your No. 1 goalie."

Also, with defenseman Mike Reilly, who has been up and down with the Iowa Wild this season because of the cap space issues and injuries at forward, playing well recently (he got an assist Saturday for four this season), that calls into question the fate of defenseman Gustav Olofsson. But Boudreau said "he's not going to sit out forever," and he'd "venture to guess" Olofsson will be seen "very soon."

Evgeni Malkin also called the Wild "not dirty" but a "good defensive" team, so there's that.