Its the opening game of the 2014 Eastern Conference finals. Star goalie Carey Price?suffers an injury, and it doesnt look good.Two time zones away in Edmonton, Devan Dubnyk, technically still property of the Montreal Canadiens but on leave, cannot believe the sickest of ironies.I remember watching that game too, and I was like, What the f---. Of course! Dubnyk recalled this week, shaking his head. That was the very day I got home.That day -- May 17, 2014 -- might have been rock bottom of an already awful 2013-14 season.Because the reality is that even if Dubnyk had not pulled the plug on his season and had stayed in Montreal, where he was trying to work his way into the organization, he was in no position to help the Habs.Dustin Tokarski and Peter Budaj were ahead of him on the depth chart. And he was in a place, both technically and mentally, having not played in forever, having had a miserable season ... well, he wasnt going to help anyone.I wasnt dumb. I mean, if I truly thought I would have had an opportunity, I wouldnt have gone anywhere. But it had been such an insane season and I had a 10-month-old son at home. I hadnt seen him for 10 weeks. Im practicing with six guys every day in Brossard, Dubnyk said of the Habs practice facility. Theres more important things I need to be doing in my life right now, and thats being a dad. The Canadiens were awesome about it. I just told them I had to go see my son and my wife.Just two and a half years later, now with the Minnesota Wild, Dubnyk finds himself just ahead of Price atop the NHL with a .946 save percentage, a lofty perch not based on catching lightning in a bottle but rather a continuation of his technical and mental turnaround that began right after that 2013-14 season.The fun part about it is that it doesnt feel like anything crazy; it doesnt feel like Im hanging on for dear life until something collapses, Dubnyk said of his league-leading save percentage. It just feels like were playing well together as a team, Ive got a great feeling standing back there. ... Theyre letting me make great reads and be patient. Im just really comfortable back there.Confidence, humility, humor, all three resonate during a half-hour interview with ESPN.com Monday evening at the Wilds team hotel in downtown Toronto.However painful that 2013-14 season might have been, it has no doubt forged the person and goaltender that the 30-year-old is today.I always viewed great adversity as a gift, Ive always believed in it,?Dallas Eakins, Dubnyks former head coach with the Edmonton Oilers, said last Friday. I think it makes us better people, better at our jobs, all those things, to go through some nasty, nasty adversity. Probably that time in Edmonton and then going through a couple of organizations very quickly, that was surely very hard on Devan and his family.Former Oilers GM Craig MacTavish says he feels the same way.A lot of times failure is the impetus that spurs development, MacTavish said Monday. I really believe that with Devan. Whether its a mentality change, whether its a commitment change, whatever it is, failure for me leads to opportunity when framed the right way. And I think Devan really framed it the right way.Relayed MacTavishs comment, Dubnyk concurred.You know what, I think hes right. You have to go through these things in life and in your career, he said. Theres no way to know what it is you have to go through. Not everyone has to get traded or go down to the minors like I did.But that was indeed his path.The seeds of that pivotal 2013-14 season were planted at the June 2013 draft in New Jersey when word leaked that the Oilers were trying to acquire Cory Schneider from the rival Vancouver Canucks (which McTavish confirms). Schneider would end up being traded to the New Jersey Devils instead that weekend, but the psychological damage had been done for Dubnyk, who was entering the final year of his contract.It was disappointing, for sure, Dubnyk said. With MacT coming in as a new GM, hes the boss, and he needs to build the team as he sees fit. Cory Schneider is a world-class goalie, so its not like hes out there trying to get some bum to replace me. But I was disappointed because I felt I had shown in the previous year, it was my best season, I had a .920 [save percentage], I didnt understand where it was coming from.What it did is plant the narrative with Oilers fans that their goaltending wasnt good enough.His opening five games were a nightmare, Dubnyk giving up 22 goals. It snowballed from there.I didnt do myself any favors, I wasnt exactly knocking any pucks down, he said. Ill never forget those first 4-5 games. I remember the days between games, I felt sick. Wed be on the road and I would go to a movie to try and just lose myself for two hours. As soon as the movie was over, I felt sick again. That was a really tough couple of weeks to start the season.He actually steadied himself to some degree, but his fate was set. The Oilers traded him to the Nashville Predators for Matt Hendricks on Jan. 15, 2014, though Dubnyk played only two games.I remember when we traded him, I was talking to him in my hotel room, said Eakins, now head coach of the Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate in San Diego. I was actually really excited for him.When a goaltender is just OK or suffering, a good team is able to forge through and support the goalie. That was the one thing we couldnt do in Edmonton. I felt terrible about it personally. I know the organization didnt feel good about it, either. We werent able to support Dubs on a nightly basis. And man, he was battling hard, he was doing everything he could to try to help us win. I always appreciated that about him and really respected that.Dubnyk has no bitterness toward the Oilers, grateful for them for giving him his start.[But] my journey is that I had to really crash and burn, and it took me to Arizona, he said, where I was just so grateful at that point just to have a job in the NHL.He loved his short time with the Arizona Coyotes, where he signed as a free agent in July 2014. Its where he rebooted his career. Its where he met Sean Burke.He really started it all for me. Burkey just gives you confidence without saying anything, Dubnyk said. You know he thinks youre good. And if youre not doing something right, hes going to tell you. Hes not going to beat around the bush. You know where you stand with him and you know hes got your back.Burke, goalie coach and assistant GM with the Coyotes at the time, had helped resurrect Mike Smiths career as well. He saw another worthy project in Dubnyk.We got him sort of beat up and bruised, Burke, now a Western scout for the Canadiens, said Monday. But I remember thinking it was a good move on our part. Devan was always intriguing to me, a big guy who moved fairly well. He came in with a really open mind. Hes a really nice person. I just remember from the minute I met him that I knew he was going to be a sponge.Dubnyk distinctly remembers after his third game of the 2014-15 season, a 6-5 win Nov. 2 at the Washington Capitals, that Burke took him aside and showed him a video that helped his positioning through more efficient movement.He wanted me to beat the pass on my feet and be set. That was really it, it was pretty simple, Dubnyk said.It just sharpened everything up for me, thats what got everything going for me.With Smith signed long-term and Dubnyk on a one-year deal, Coyotes GM Don Maloney dealt Dubnyk to the Wild on Jan. 15, 2015 -- one year to the day after his trade by the Oilers.The Wild, flailing away on miserable winless streak, saw their season completely turn around after Dubnyks acquisition (for a third-round pick, no less). It proved a good move by Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, who called it an act of desperation at the time. Dubnyk went on a historic run, starting 40 straight games and almost single-handedly pushing the struggling Wild from down the standings to into the playoffs.In the meantime, Dubnyk began forging a very good working relationship with Wild goalie coach Bob Mason. But on top of that he also found another edge in his game after being introduced to Lyle Mast, a goalie guru who had developed a ground-breaking teaching method that focused more on vertical movement than lateral movement while tracking the puck.Mast has worked for years with Los Angeles Kings goalie coach Bill Ranford and netminder Jonathan Quick, as well as other goalie coaches and netminders in pro and junior. Dubnyk talks or texts with Mast around almost every game.But this is more than just a technical revival. This meteoric rise from the ashes of that 2013-14 season is just as much a mental one.Oh, 100 percent, Dubnyk said. Getting to that state of mind of just being grateful to have a job.Seriously, he means that. He got to a point heading into July 1, 2014, with agent Mike Liut when he prepared himself to accept where his career was going.Right before I signed in Arizona, the only thing I did accept just to almost relieve some pressure, I just understood that at my age [28 at the time] and the situation I was going in with Smithy there, is that my window might have passed in terms of being a starter, he said. Just because of the way the league is.Hes now a top-five goalie in the world.Signed to a six-year, $26 million deal with the Wild in the summer of 2015, Dubnyk is in a good place. All around.Minny is such a great place to raise a family, we enjoy it so much there, said Dubnyk, who with his wife has two boys, 3 and 1. I mean, life is great. Gosh, it was so close to being a whole lot different than that ...But its not. Because Devan Dubnyk didnt give up. Because he stayed positive. He rolled up his sleeves and went back to work, just as so many people counted him out. 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The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. SAN ANTONIO -- Former Spurs power forward Tim Duncan sat in attendance as his team defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 113-100 on Sunday, before attending his jersey retirement ceremony.Duncan became the eighth Spur in franchise history to have his jersey retired, joining a group that includes George Gervin (44), David Robinson (50), Sean Elliott (32), James Silas (13), Avery Johnson (6), Bruce Bowen (12) and Johnny Moore (00).Im going to tell you this: I won a lot of bets tonight, Duncan joked. I didnt wear jeans. I wore a sport coat, and I spoke for more than 30 seconds. Thank you, San Antonio. Thank you.In his typical understated fashion, Duncan spoke for 4 minutes, 18 seconds, thanking a group sitting at center court that included his college coach at Wake Forest, Dave Odom, along with his children, various family members, former teammates Bowen, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Robinson and Elliott, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, and general manager R.C. Buford.To all of you in here, the fans, all of San Antonio, thank you, Duncan said. The love and support is overwhelming, especially over the last couple of weeks. Ive heard from teammates, from the guys Ive been with forever, to guys I played a year or two with, to these jokers over here; just an amazing response, and just an overwhelming amount of love from these guys for what I meant to them. And it doesnt even explain how much they meant to me because I got so much more from you guys, from my teammates, than they can explain that they got from me. And I know that.In a hall outside the San Antonio locker room, a group led by former Spurs Bowen and Robinson jokingly made predictions prior to the game about the anticipated length of Duncans speech. None of the mock speeches lasted longer than a minute, while Duncan actually spoke more than four times as long.Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks, who played with Duncan on the Spurs from 2003 to 2006 and served as an assistant coach from 2013 to 2016, attended the ceremony with his family, despite the fact his current squad was on the road Sunday at Philadelphia. Former Spurs Malik Rose, Antonio Daniels, Danny Manning and Will Perdue also attended Sundays ceremony, as did Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, a former San Antonio assistant.Inside the locker room before the game, the teams equipment staff passed out socks to the players with Duncans No. 21 emblazoned across one side. Parker, Ginobili and Pau Gasol each posted messages on Twitter with the hashtag #ThankYouTD.Duncan, Parker and Ginobili combined to capture 126 career playoff victories together, the most in NBA history by any trio. That group also owns the most regular-season wins in NBA history (575) and is the first set of three teammates or more to win four championships together since Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.Parker often joked that for nearly his entire rookie season Duncan never spoke to him, but he complimented Duncan for all their off-the-court interactions, which often lifted the point guards spirits as he struggled to deal with a demanding Popovich early in his career.Hes the only teammate that never asked me or talked to me to get the ball, Parker joked. He just looked at me. And when youre 19 years old coming from France, thats very scary when he looks at you. He doesnt have to talk to you. Most of the guys [are like], Hey, Tony, Im open. But Timmy just looked at me. Id be like, Hey, Pop, Timmy looked at me. We should run a play. Pop would be like, He really looked at you? I was like, Yeah, so we should run a play. If you want me to be the point guard tomorrow, [lets] pass him the ball right now.Ginobili told a story about the 2006 NBA playoffs to illustrate the type of teammate Duncan was. Ginobili committed a late turnover that cost the Spurs a game against the Sacramento Kings, tying the series at 2.I wanted to vanish, Ginobili said.But Duncan called Ginobilis hotel room on five occasions before finally getting him.He invited me to dinner, and we talked for hours about computers, cars, TV shows, whatever, Ginobili said. My mental state shifted, and I had a way better night than it would have been otherwise. Those are the types of gestures that Im pretty sure that you can go and ask most of his teammates around, and they all saw it.So since I have the opportunity now, thank you, Timmy. Thank you very much for all these years. Thank you for the four rings I have in my home because of you. Thank you for making me better, and everybody that ever played with you.Duncan played all 19 seasons of his NBA career under Popovich, and they captured five championships together. Only Kobe Bryant (20) played more seasons with a single franchise, and John Stockton (19) is the only other player with at least that many seasons with the same squad.To R.C. and Pop, were all part of a puzzle. You guys put it together, and were out here every year, winniing and winning championships and creating an atmosphere that we like to take some credit for, but you guys put [it] together.dddddddddddd Thank you, Duncan said. Thank you, Coach Pop, for being more than a coach -- for being more like a father to me. Thank you.Duncan retired ranked second in playoff victories, first in postseason double-doubles and third in rebounds. The 15-year span between Duncans first (1999) and last NBA championship (2014) ranks as the second-longest span in league history behind Abdul-Jabbar (17 years) among players participating in both NBA Finals series, per Elias research.Duncan also joins John Salley as just the second player in the league annals to win an NBA title in three different decades.I dont know how many accolades you could ever put up on this guy, said Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry.Gentry spent nine seasons with the Phoenix Suns?and admitted Duncan caused his former team fits in the postseason.Hes just a tremendous guy, the best power forward that ever played the game. Probably, if you talk to anyone that knows him, hes probably the most low-maintenance superstar that ever played the game; just a tremendous guy, a great person. This couldnt come or happen to a better guy, said Gentry. There was no reason to wait. Its not like they were going to decide somewhere along the line his number was going to be retired. It was going to happen. So I think its great that theyre doing it early and doing it right now before hes even a year out of the league.Duncan is San Antonios all-time leader in points (26,496), rebounds (15,091), blocked shots (3,020) and games played (1,392), and he ranks as the 14th leading scorer in NBA history. Duncan has also won two regular-season MVP awards and two Finals MVPs.He is just the third player in NBA history to capture 1,000 career regular-season wins, with only Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish owning more career victories.Gentry pointed to Duncans reputation for being coachable as one of the keys to his success. Gentry gave his Pelicans players the freedom to attend the jersey retirement ceremony if they chose. He said his team would be spending the night in San Antonio after Sundays game.?The big thing that differentiates [Duncan] from the other superstars is that he wanted to be coached just like the 12th or 13th guy on the team, Gentry said. Youre able to get on him, youre able to do a lot of things, and hes just a tremendous guy. I was in Phoenix most of the time, and he made life miserable for us there. So we kind of wish he wouldve retired about eight years ago. I think we would have been much better off in Phoenix.Hes a great player, such a team guy. ... Hes a great leader on this team, and I think anybody that has ever played on this team would tell you the same. More so than anything, I think he just wanted to be one of the guys. He wanted to fit in and be one of the guys, and of course as a coach, you love that situation because with the humility that he has, that makes him just very coachable. Whenever youre able to coach your superstars the way that Pop has been able to coach him, then the other guys, they really dont have a choice. They have to fall in line.Duncan remains embedded with the Spurs and has appeared frequently at practice this season, working out with former teammates while spending time playing one-on-one with Gasol and counseling younger players, such as Jonathon Simmons and rookie point guard Dejounte Murray.Popovich has said that whenever Duncan is ready, he can be coach of anything he wants, but its an offer the team doesnt expect Duncan to take. Popovich has said Duncan is too smart for that.Duncan also spends time at his BlackJack Speed Shop, which specializes in custom performance upgrades for cars, and shooting local spots for grocery store chain HEB. The chain debuted its new commercial during Sundays game that featured Duncan and his new cereal, Slam Duncan Os. Seconds later, parachutes cascaded from the rafters with samples of the cereal attached.As Popovich finished up his closing remarks regarding Duncan on Sunday, he pulled a tissue out of the left pocket of his jacket before stuffing it back in, saying he promised he wouldnt need to use it.I dont even want to talk about rebounds, points and all that sort of thing, Popovich said. This individual made it possible for everybody we brought in throughout the years to be a part of this culture and be a part of this program. As everybody said: His empathy, his ability to make people welcome, and lead quietly, but with dignity and gravitas, made him special beyond most anybody that you could imagine.This is the most important comment that I can make about Tim Duncan: I can honestly say to Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, who have passed, that that man right there is exactly the same person now as he was when he walked in the door. ' ' '