Minnesota Wild's Matt Boldy celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, December 10, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VANCOUVER – Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots for his first NHL shutout as the Minnesota Wild snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night.
Matt Boldy, on the power play, and Connor Dewar, shorthanded, scored for the Wild (14-11-2), who were playing their third game in four nights. Mats Zuccarello collected his second assist of the night on Sam Steel’s third-period goal.
Many of the shots Gustavsson faced were from long-range. He made a nice stop on a Bo Horvat deflection on a second-period power play then got a right pad on an Ilya Mikheyev shot on the doorstep with 8:15 left in the third period.
Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov saw his franchise-record 14-game point streak end.
Goaltender Spencer Martin stopped 30 shots for the Canucks (12-13-3) who saw their three-game win streak end. It was the first time this year Vancouver was shutout.
Steel put the Wild ahead 3-0 when he lifted a backhand over Martin’s shoulder at 8:51 of the third.
After being badly outplayed in the opening period, the Canucks outshot the Wild 19-7 in the second, but it was Minnesota who went ahead 2-0 on Dewar’s short-handed goal at 16:08 of the period.
The Wild were killing their third consecutive penalty when Vancouver’s J.T. Miller threw a pass off the boards in Minnesota’s zone that Dewar intercepted. He skated the length of the ice and blew a shot over Martin’s blocker for his fourth goal of the year.
It was the second short-handed breakaway Martin faced in the period. Earlier, he stopped Joel Eriksson Ek on a two-man breakaway.
Boldy opened the scoring at 16:43 of the first period, just eight seconds after Vancouver’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson was sent off for hooking. Zuccarello fired a shot from the point that Martin stopped but Boldy put in the rebound for his 10th of the year.
The Wild outshot Vancouver 14-4 in the first period. Martin kept it close stopping Jordan Greenway on a breakaway and getting a leg on a Marcus Foligno shot on a power play.
NOTES: Horvat played in his 600th NHL game. “¦ Martin made his fourth straight start since Thatcher Demko suffered a lower-body injury Dec. 1. “¦. The Canucks outshot the Wild 10-0 in the first seven minutes of the second period. “¦ Miller has one goal in his last 11 games but has collected nine assists over that span. “¦ The Canucks had won their previous three games in overtime. Elias Pettersson scored the winner in the last two against Montreal and San Jose. “¦ Foligno played in his 700th NHL game. “¦ Centre Samuel Walker, who played his first NHL game, is the first Wild to wear No. 74. “¦ Minnesota played its fourth of 12 sets of back-to-back games. “¦ The Wild limped in Vancouver after losing 5-2 to Edmonton Friday and 5-3 to Calgary Wednesday.
UP NEXT
The Canucks play in Calgary on Wednesday then return to Rogers Arena for three games at home beginning Saturday against Winnipeg.
The Wild return home for a homestand with games against Edmonton on Monday, Detroit Wednesday, Chicago on Friday then Ottawa Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2022.
