Vancouver Canucks Hold Strong, Defeat Minnesota Wild 3-1

The Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks played each other on Friday night, Mar. 7 in Vancouver. The Wild won their first meetup in overtime back in December in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Canucks were without Quinn Hughes, who was listed as day-to-day, and the Wild were still without Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jonas Brodin. 

Related: Minnesota Wild Fulfill Needs With Brazeau Acquisition

The goaltending matchup was between Filip Gustavsson for the Wild and Kevin Lankinen for the Canucks. The Canucks had the upper hand as they got on the board first, the Wild fought back, but the Canucks took the win 3-1. This moved the Wild’s record to 36-23-4 and the Canucks to 29-22-11. 

Game Recap

The first period was a lot of back-and-forth action, and the Canucks had the slight upper hand that they used late in the period. Elias Pettersson found an opening on the power play and shot it past Gustavsson to give his team the 1-0 lead. Filip Hronek and Brock Boeser assisted him. The Wild weren’t able to find an answer, and the period ended with the Canucks in the lead. 

There were chances for both sides in the second period, but both goaltenders held firm and kept the score 1-0 in favor of the Canucks. The Wild took control early in the third and scored their first of the game just over seven minutes into the period to tie the game 1-1. Brock Faber scored the goal on the power play, and Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy assisted him. 

It looked like the game was going to swing in the Wild’s direction, but the Canucks capitalized with an open weak side and regained the lead. Kiefer Sherwood scored the goal, and Hronek assisted him. That goal swung the momentum back in the Canucks’ direction, and they added an empty net to seal the win 3-1. The goal was tallied by Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter assisted him. 

The Wild will head back home to host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon, Mar. 9. The Canucks will remain at home to host the Dallas Stars also on Sunday.