Whatever is said though, the Minnesota Wild still won the game and the defensive pairings gave scoring contributions on that result.
Not the least a two-goal night from Matt Dumba; one at even-strength, the other on the power-play, thus not really influenced by the change in partner.
Typically this season, we’ve seen Matt Dumba and Ryan Suter paired together in a pairing that is by some measures near-elite.
Jared Spurgeon, possibly the most underrated defenseman in the Minnesota Wild line-up has typically been paired with Jonas Brodin as the go-to shutdown pairing.