Canucks top Wild
Published 2:31 am Wednesday, February 13, 2013
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Robert Luongo made 25 saves, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.
Luongo’s home shutout streak against the Wild ended at 228 minutes, 26 seconds but he held on for the win. He still hasn’t lost a game in regulation this season.
Luongo lowered his goals-against average to 1.45, behind only Ottawa’s Craig Anderson. Kevin Bieksa and Jannik Hansen scored for Vancouver (8-2-2).
Devin Setoguchi had the only goal for the Wild (6-6-1), whose two-game winning streak was snapped. Minnesota hasn’t won in Vancouver since Jan. 31, 2009 (0-9-2).
Darcy Kuemper stopped 28 shots in a losing effort in his NHL debut. Kuemper was called up, because Josh Harding was dealing with the effects of medication he takes for multiple sclerosis.
Kuemper had a 1.79 goals-against average and .938 save percentage with the Houston Aeros of the AHL.
Bieksa gave Vancouver a 1-0 at the tail end of a power play.
Zack Kassian rushed past a defender along the right boards and centered the puck to Bieksa, who beat Kuemper low with a one-timer at 11:33 of the first.
Luongo made his first big stop about 13 minutes into the game during a Minnesota power play. He kicked out his right pad to rob Charlie Coyle’s one-timer from the slot.
Mason Raymond and Keith Ballard combined to set up Hansen’s third of the season at 10:03 of the second. Raymond began the play by skating through three Minnesota defenders before feeding Ballard along the left boards. Ballard spotted Hansen at the right side of the net, and the Danish right wing beat Kuemper glove side, off the crossbar and in.
Raymond extended his point streak to four games.
Setoguchi got the Wild within 2-1 four minutes later on the power play with a highlight-reel finish. Mikael Granlund and Matt Cullen worked to dig the puck out of the corner, allowing Setoguchi to skate out front, dragged the puck to his forehand and put the puck past Luongo.
It was Setoguchi’s second goal in three games after he failed to record any in the first nine games of the season.
That goal came on the third of the Wild’s four shots in the period.
Vancouver came out of the second intermission looking to regain the two-goal cushion. Daniel Sedin had a partial breakaway but was turned aside by Kuemper’s quick blocker save, keeping the Wild within one.
Minnesota was stymied on its best chance to tie the game just past the 5-minute mark. Zach Parise found himself alone in front, and his quick shot was kicked out to Ryan Suter in the slot, but the defenseman sent a shot off the post. Suter has yet to score a goal for the Wild since signing a big free agent deal in the offseason.
In the final minute, with Kuemper pulled for an extra attacker, Luongo made a big stop against Setoguchi, and then blocked the rebound. He made 10 stops in the final period.
NOTES: Henrik Sedin entered the game one point shy of Markus Naslund’s Canucks scoring record. He has 755 points. The Canucks captain hasn’t scored in 12 games to begin the season.