November 20th

Canucks Nip Wild
Mark Christopher, Sophomore Writer


ST PAUL -- Fresh off a 2-1 Shooutout win Tuesday in Pittsburgh against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Penguins, the Minnesota Wild returned home for the first of a five-game homestand Thursday night hosting the Vancouver Canucks.

Just one-point seperated Vancouver (24pts, 11-6-2) and Minnesota (23pts, 11-4-3) heading into the game as both teams have either shared or at least had a share of first place in the Northwest Division since the season started, and both clubs have been playing well as of late. The Wild are 4-1-0 in their last 5 games, while the Canucks are 3-0-2, and won the first meeting between the two back on November 8th at GM Place 2-0.

Vancouver beat the Rangers 6-3 Wednesday night and is playing the second of back-to-back games in their third of 11 total back-to-back series this season, and so far this year has a 3-1-0 record in those games. Last season the Canucks were 13-14-3 in back-to-back series, posting a 7-6-2 record in the first game played and 6-8-1 in the second game played.

Curtis Sanford got his second start of the season in net for the Canucks, as Captain Roberto Luongo got the night off, and in 2 games played had allowed 5 goals with a .878 save percentage.

Both teams skated a scoreless opening period, but the crowd came to their feet 12:04 in as Erik Reitz of the Wild and Taylor Pyatt of the Canucks pushed each other in front of the Wild bench and were about to drop their gloves when at the last second Vancouver's Shane O'Brien got between the two and slashed Reitz, while they both went at it to a draw that saw several good punches thrown.

Minnesota broke the scoreless tie at 7:16 of the second period when Mikko Koivu fired a slapper from the left face-off circle that went five-hole on Sanford for his forth goal of the season. Vancouver tied it 1-1 at 12:00 when Steve Bernier in the high left slot turned around and released a wrister that went just a quarter-inch above Niklas Backstrom's glove to the high right corner of the net. Just 2:22 later Koivu scored his second goal of the game, a shorthanded one on a breakaway, to give Minnesota a brief 2-1 lead. Former Wild Forward Pavol Demitra scored a power play goal off a pass from the corner that took a weird bounce in the crease and found it's way to the back of the net at 16:10 to tie it 2-2. That power play goal was just the second Minnesota had surrendered at home this season, and only the fifth this season. Heading into the game the Wild had outscored it's opponents 9-1 in the second period at home this season, and marked the first time since October 29th in Dallas that they've allowed two goals in a period.

Since Daniel and Henrik Sedin came into the league in 2000, the Canucks have lived and died with the Sedin's, especially when both of them get involved or are shut down in a game, as Vancouver's record when both Sedin's register at least one point is 154-50-21. Henrik assisted on Demitra's goal in the second period and Daniel scored the game winner at 11:41 of the third to give the Canucks a 3-2 win over Minnesota and a three-point lead in the Northwest division standings.

Vancouver improved to 5-0-1 in the division and are the only team without a regulation loss versus the Northwest this season, while Curtis Sanford recorded his first win in almost a year dating back to December 12th, 2007 against Anaheim.

Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom lost at home for the first time in 15 regular season decisions (11-1-3) dating back to March 4th, 2008 as the Wild fell to 1-3-1 on the season when allowing three or more goals, lost for just the second time in regulation in the last eight overall meetings against the Canucks, and lost for the first time this season (8-1-0) when Koivu gets at least one point.

Minnesota will contuine their season long five-game homestand Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues, and then Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Monday.


Three Stars of the Game (Picked by Doug Johnson of Lets Play Hockey)

1--MN--Mikko Koivu (2 Goals, including a Shorthanded one in 2nd period)
2--VAN--Pavol Demitra (Goal and Assist)
3--MN--Cal Cutterbuck (8 Hits & a Blocked Shot)