Wild Returns To Practice, Hoping To Force Game 5
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Where do you go from here?
It's back to St Louis for the Minnesota Wild, who have yet to lead for one second in this stunning opening round series with the Blues. Bruce Boudreau told his team it's like playing Game 7. Down 3-0, trying desperately to get to a Game 5 back at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday night.
WCCO's Mike Max gives us one reason for hope.
The Minnesota Wild are back at work, yes trying to maintain optimism but aware of the truth.
"We haven't played poorly yet. I don't think we can say that we've played bad but we're down 3-0 so we can pat each other on the back all we went but we're down 3-0," Zach Parise said.
You want a slice of playoff optimism? How about this: Goaltending. Not the St. Louis Blues goaltending, but the Minnesota Wild's.
Devan Dubnyk has been on top of his game. A question mark coming in, he's kept his team in it.
"It doesn't help but the only way to play well in my job is to go out and give the guys a chance to win. And I'm not going to be able to do that if I'm thinking about anything other than stopping the puck," Dubnyk said.
The good news is he's bounced back and taken that worry off the radar, for now.
"We believe in him, you know, and in the end he hasn't given up more than two goals a game," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "If I ask my goaltender just to give up two goals a game, we're going to succeed."
And he will have to stand tall, because they've seen three games, three losses and a whisker from winning all three.
"It's one play difference and we're in a different ballgame so you can't think too much about those things. But it just shows you how important each play is in the playoffs," Dubnyk said.