Wild turn to Darcy Kuemper, ending Dubnyk's streak of 39 consecutive starts

Darcy Kuemper will start for the first time since Jan. 6 when the Minnesota Wild face the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Head coach Mike Yeo confirmed as much on local radio station KFAN on Thursday morning, according to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The move means Devan Dubnyk's streak of 39 consecutive starts - 38 with the Wild - will come to an end. It's the longest such stretch since former San Jose Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov started 43 straight games in 2007-08.

Kuemper suffered an injury in practice on Jan. 7 and has only made one appearance since, relieving Dubnyk in a shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 20.

Dubnyk has gone 27-8-2 with a 1.73 goals-against average and .938 save percentage since being acquired by the Wild in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes. 

He is 36-13-4 with a GAA of 2.04 and a save percentage of .930 in 57 contests.