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Minnesota Wild: Start the season with a strong October

By Cody Defoe

ST. PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 25: After scoring a 2nd period goal Jonas Brodin #25 of the Minnesota Wild is congratulated by Charlie Coyle #3 of the Minnesota Wild and Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild during a game between the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center on October 25, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 25: After scoring a 2nd period goal Jonas Brodin #25 of the Minnesota Wild is congratulated by Charlie Coyle #3 of the Minnesota Wild and Jared Spurgeon #46 of the Minnesota Wild during a game between the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center on October 25, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Wild goalies combined for a fantastic start to the season, but most of the credit needs to go to Devan Dubnyk.

Devan Dubnyk finished October with a superb 2.19 GAA (8th among goalies with at least 5 starts) and .937 Sv% (4th among goalies with at least 5 games played). His 5 wins were tied for 5th in the NHL, only 1 back of the league leaders in the category.

More importantly, Devan Dubnyk was the backbone of the team during the sluggish start to the season, keeping them in games they should have been out of early on, and outright stealing the a point against Vegas in the second game of the season.

This is more of the same for Devan Dubnyk in the regular season, as he has become the brick wall in net and is relied upon to bail out his teammates when they are giving up too many chances against.

Dubnyk personally set a single season record in Dallas on October 19th, recording 24 saves in the second period alone, en route to recording the 3-1 win in a game that Minnesota had no rights being close in if not for Dubnyk.

Alex Stalock took 3 starts in relief of Dubnyk, each in half of back-to-back games for the Wild, and recorded 2 wins in 3 tries.

Stalock’s stats don’t reflect as nicely in the Goals Against and Save Percentage categories, with a 3.30 GAA and .895 Sv%, but 2 wins in 3 attempts is enough to make fans ignore the stat lines a little bit more.

Where Stalock impressed is in his puck handling, being praised as a third defenseman with how well he handled the puck. Including springing the offense in 3-on-3 overtime for the game winning goal against Tampa Bay.

https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1053850865134698496

Stalock could use to clean up some of the weaker goals he was allowing in October, but as long as the team in front keeps providing him the offense to win the 5-4 and 4-3 games we can’t complain about his goals against yet.

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