Wade Dubielewicz was ready when the Minnesota Wild needed him.
After starting goalie Niklas Backstrom took a slap shot to the neck area early in the third period, Dubielewicz stopped all five shots he faced in regulation and made two more saves in a shootout in the Wild's 2-1 victory over Calgary on Thursday night.
It was Dubielewicz's third appearance for the Wild this season.
``They made my job easy and scored two in the shootout and it couldn't have really worked out better,'' said Dubielewicz, who forced Jarome Iginla to shoot wide in the shootout before making a pad save on Nigel Dawes.
``It was funny, because I played against him (Dawes) in the American League and he owned me. He was 4-for-4 against me in shootouts.''
Dawes was disappointed he didn't make a better move against Dubielewicz.
``As I was going down, I just had a lot too much going through my head and he made a good save,'' Dawes said. ``He stuck with me and I just ran out of room.''
At the other end of the ice, Brent Burns beat Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff with a backhand attempt during the shootout and Antti Miettinen scored on a similar move to secure the win for the Wild.
Chuck Kobasew opened the scoring for Minnesota on a power play in the first period, and Dawes tied it in the second. Despite both teams being awarded 5-on-3 power plays in the third period, neither scored.
``That's kind of been the story of late, getting a lot of opportunities and a lot of shots and just not being able to find the back of the net,'' Dawes said. ``That's probably one of the bigger reasons why we're in the position we're in today.''
After spending the majority of the season in the American Hockey League with the Houston Aeros, Dubielewicz was recently called up by the Wild when goalie Josh Harding went down for the season with a hip injury.
``It was nice to get back in there,'' Dubielewicz said. ``This is the level you want to be playing at, so any time you get a chance, you take advantage of it.''
Backstrom stopped 27 of 28 shots he faced before leaving in the third period after being hit in the neck by David Moss' slap shot.
``He took a pretty good high stinger there,'' said Dubielewicz, who made sure his goaltending counterpart was feeling all right after the contest. ``I was just happy I could preserve the win for him.''
Minnesota coach Todd Richards said he also made sure his starting goalie was feeling better after the game.
``In talking with him in the room he seems good, he seems fine,'' Richards said. ``I think at first he was probably more just scared of how it felt, but Dubie came in and did a great job in relief.''
Miikka Kiprusoff made 23 saves for Calgary.
NOTES: The Wild have three straight games in Calgary to improve to 6-18-4 at the Pengrowth Saddledome. ... Calgary defenseman Jay Bouwmeester extended the NHL's longest current consecutive games streak to 423.
