The Minnesota Wild (5-1-0) got two goals from defensemen and hung on to beat the Vancouver Canucks (3-3-1) by a score of 3-2 on Tuesday night. The Wild are now 4-0-0 on the road this season. Minnesota blocked 16 shots (11 from defensemen) and took only three penalties in the win. It was Minnesota’s first game in Canada since February 2, 2020.
The Wild opened the scoring for the first time in a game this year as Mats Zuccarello scored his third goal of the season on a breakaway at the 7:41 mark of the first period. Zuccarello was sprung by Joel Eriksson-Ek, who recorded his 100th career point on the assist.
Just a couple of minutes after the goal the Canucks had a chance to tie the game. However Cam Talbot made one of his best saves in a Wild uniform as he robbed Brock Boeser on a 2-on-1. Talbot played great all game and is now 5-0-0 with a .906 save percentage on the season.
Minnesota doubled their lead early in the second period as Jonas Brodin collected a loose puck, fired a shot on goal, and followed his own rebound to make it 2-0. It was Brodin’s first goal of the season.
Later in the second the Canucks got on the board thanks to an Alex Chiasson power-play goal at the 10:46 mark of the period. The Wild have now given up a power-play goal in all six of their games so far this season.
In the third period the Wild got another tally from a defenseman, as Matt Dumba finished the odd-man rush with a shot over the glove of Thatcher Demko. Dumba’s goal was assisted by University of Minnesota alum Rem Pitlick, who made his season debut for the Wild on Tuesday night.
Bo Horvat scored his fourth of the year to make it 3-2 with 4:07 left but Vancouver could not find the tying goal. The Canucks had the puck in the offensive zone for the last 45 seconds but put multiple shots wide of the net.
The Minnesota Wild will continue their road trip with their first-ever game against the Seattle Kraken (2-4-1) on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. CST. Defenseman Carson Soucy, who was drafted from the Wild in Seattle’s expansion draft, has one goal and is -2 for the Kraken in five games so far this season.
