Good Thing Dubnyk isn't a Number One Goalie

After leading the Arizona Coyotes to three wins against the Oilers and a fourth win against the Oilers as a member of the Wild, Devan Dubnyk looked to make 5 wins against his former team.

Highlights

First Period

• 9:42 GOAL - Zach Parise wins the puck battle down low and beats 2 Oilers defenders to get the puck to Christian Folin. Folin blasts it from the point and Justin Fontaine is open in the slot to tip it in.
• 4:54 GOAL - Miko Koivu’s sharp angle shot rebounds out into the slot and because the Oilers never cover the slot, Nino Niederreiter is there to put away the rebound.

Second Period

• 10:32 - Best save of the night. Marcus Granland takes a shot on net that Ben Scrivens’ stops but the puck bounces up into the air. Fontaine bats it out of the air right into the open side above Scivens’ glove side. But Scrivens come up huge and makes the glove save.
• 4:11 GOAL - With the Oilers’ forwards trapped back. Koivu gains the zone and finds Thomas Vanek. Vanek makes a nice pass over to Jordan Schroeder who puts it away on Scrivens.

Third Period

• 19:15 - Devan Dubnyk makes an attempt to clear the puck and passes it directly to Nail Yakupov. Yakupov lets it go but Dubnyk makes it back quick enough to stop it. The rebound goes to Derek Roy but he can’t beat Dubnyk either.
• 13:30 - Matthew Dumba gave the puck away to Yakupov right infront of the net. Yakupov took a shot, the rebound went to Teddy Purcell. Purcell had a wide open net but Dubnyk came back to push it out.
• 11:55 5v4 - Nate Prosser for tripping - Drawn by Jordan Eberle
• 9:55 5v5 - Penalty expires
• 1:15 GOAL - Parise from behind the net spinss off a check from Oscar Klefbom and feathers a pass into the slot up to Fontaine. Fontaine puts it past Scrivens.

Thoughts

Dubnyk has arguably played the best season of his career; sporting a 21-7-3 record with a shiny 2.20 GAA and 0.925 SV% after tonight’s game. The funny thing about this is that away from the Oilers, Ben Scrivens also had similar numbers and Viktor Fasth wasn’t as bad as his number imply either.

Ask any Oilers fan what is the Oilers’ biggest weakness and a lot will say goaltending. I was also in that camp for a while (at least with Scrivens & Fasth), but how does a goalie who had a 3.36 GAA & 0.894 SV% only a season ago become one of the hottest goalies in the NHL? The answer is pretty simple if you ask me. The Oilers struggled defensively last season, then again this season and are still trying to find their way. Big changes have to occur this off season or the Oilers will just repeat this cycle again next season.

Up Next

Another early game but this time at Rexall Place against the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks pounded the Flames tonight 6-3 but both teams played tonight so it’s an even playing field when it comes to be being worn out. My guess is that Todd Nelson will decide to play Scrivens again due to a lack of confidence in Richard Bachman.

The game starts at 5PM and will be on HNIC.