Canucks can't tame Wild
Sports Ticker
1/16/2003
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Marian Gaborik returned to form and the Minnesota Wild got back to winning.
Pascal Dupuis recorded the first two-goal game of his career and Gaborik ended his scoring slump with a goal and three assists to lead the Wild to a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Dupuis' second goal came with 8:33 left in the game after Trent Klatt pulled the Canucks to 3-2. Dupuis took a nice pass from Gaborik on a two-on-one break to beat Dan Cloutier, giving Minnesota a 4-2 lead.
Gaborik, who became the franchise's first-ever NHL all-star selection earlier in the day, ended his seven-game goal drought with an empty-net goal with 1:58 to play. Gaborik raced down the ice and fought off Brent Sopel to score his 24th of the season.
``It was a relief to get that goal,'' Gaborik said.
The Wild were relieved just to record a win. Minnesota came into the game with losses in four of its previous five games. The Wild improved to 2-3 on its current six-game homestand, which ends Saturday against Anaheim.
``It's nice to come back and play a game like this,'' said Wild coach Jacques Lemaire. ``It's great. I feel like we were playing like that a month ago, and it's nice to see it back.''
Dwayne Roloson had 28 saves for Minnesota. Cloutier finished with 19.
The game ended with a pileup in front of the Wild bench. Replays showed Jarkko Ruutu throwing an elbow at a Wild player along the board with 2.1 seconds left. Jeremy Stevenson and Jason Marshall retaliated for Minnesota and the officials penalized all three players.
``That's the type of player Ruutu is,'' Lemaire said. ``You don't give cheap shots.''
Gaborik's all-star teammates, Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Ed Jovanovski had quiet nights for Vancouver, which has lost three of its last four.
``It was a terrible night,'' Bertuzzi said. ``We've got to have better starts than this.''
Richard Park and Stevenson also scored for the Wild, who gained two points on the Northwest Division rival Canucks. Vancouver leads the division with 57 points while the Wild entered the game tied for second place with Edmonton at 52.
``To win against a team like that is huge,'' Dupuis said. ``We're right behind them. Not right behind them, but we're kinda sliding behind them.''
Park got the Wild off to a fast start with his ninth goal of the season two minutes into the game. On a two-on-one break, Jim Dowd drew Cloutier out of the net and zipped the puck over to Park, who scored on a one-timer.
Dupuis added a power-play goal to make it 2-0. He poked in Gaborik's shot that bounced off Cloutier's pads with 3:34 left in the period.
The Canucks looked to be unravelling after being hit with a bench minor for too many men on the ice after Dupuis' goal. But they caught a break when Trevor Letowski beat Roloson with a short-handed goal with 1:46 left in the period.
The Wild went up 3-1 when Stevenson, planted in front of the net, scored his second goal of the season after taking a nice corner pass from rookie Pierre-Marc Bouchard at 4:08.
Klatt pulled the Canucks to 3-2 early in the third period. Klatt's low shot off the ice from the right circle slipped under Roloson's stick at 1:22.
``We have to stay with what we are doing,'' said Vancouver coach Marc Crawford. ``A few guys didn't seem to be at their best tonight.
``We have to get complete effort from all the guys to move in the right direction.''
Notes: Wild C Darby Hendrickson was activated before the game and returned to the lineup after missing the first half of the season with a broken arm. Hendrickson had a chance to score in the third period with a wide-open net but whiffed on the pass. ... Wild D Andrei Zyuzin was helped off the ice after a hard hit by Vancouver's Jarkko Ruutu in the second period. Zyuzin had cut on his head after his face was smashed between the boards. ... Wild D Filip Kuba was placed on injured reserve with a bruised foot before the game.
Cheers,
Aquaman