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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Standing 10th in the Western Conference,
the Minnesota Wild are desperate for wins and points. On Thursday night, they finally played like it. Marc Chouinard scored two goals to lead an offensive outburst as
the Wild routed the Vancouver Canucks 6-2. Marian Gaborik, Andrew Brunette and Antti Laaksonen each had a
goal and an assist, and Alex Henry had the first goal of his NHL
career for the Wild, who got 26 saves from Dwayne Roloson.
Laaksonen scored on a penalty shot in the first period. "Probably the most intense game this hockey team has played,"
Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. The Canucks outshot the Wild 28-22, but Minnesota had the better
scoring chances. The Wild scored three times in both the first and
second periods against the Canucks, who have lost four of five
games. "It was a bad performance by us," Canucks coach Marc Crawford
said. "We've got no excuses and we will all take the
responsibility for it. ... We have to be concerned with how we
played tonight." Vancouver goaltender Dan Cloutier, coming off a shutout at
Colorado, gave up four goals on 10 shots before being replaced by
Johan Hedberg in the second period. Todd Bertuzzi and Mattias
Ohlund scored for the Canucks, who are without the injured Markus
Naslund. "We didn't play with any emotion," Crawford said. "We didn't
play with any type of enthusiasm. If there's any consolation, it's
that it was all the way through the lineup. The only solace is that
it was a total team misperformance." Minnesota, pushing for the final playoff spot in the West, has
scored 10 goals in its last two games. "We don't have too many games left and we're still out of the
playoff spot," said Chouinard, who had his first-career two-goal
game. "This was sort of desperation for the team. Guys that have
been there before want to go there again." Chouinard gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead off a pretty pass from
Andrei Zyuzin at 3:56 of the first period. The Wild started gaining steam on Laaksonen's penalty shot with
5:05 left in the period. With Vancouver on a power play, Laaksonen
got the puck in the neutral zone and streaked toward the net, but
was dragged down from behind by Mike Keane. On the penalty shot, Laaksonen deked left, brought the puck back
right and backhanded it over Cloutier's pads, drawing a loud
ovation. Less than five minutes later, Brunette made it 3-0 on a
wraparound. "We needed a good game, especially at home," Brunette said.
"We haven't played very well at home. ... Actually, we've played
terrible at home. So to come in here and play like this against a
top team, especially Vancouver, makes it sweet." The Wild improved to 13-12-6-1 at home. Bertuzzi's power-play goal at 1:37 of the second pulled the
Canucks to 3-1. But Chouinard answered with his second goal. He tipped in a
backhanded pass from Alexandre Daigle to give the Wild a 4-1 lead
and send Cloutier to the bench. Two nights after scoring three times at New Jersey, Gaborik
assisted on Henry's goal at 7:43 of the second, then added an
impressive score of his own for just his 10th goal of the season. After taking a long pass from Laaksonen, Gaborik fought off
Brent Sopel and backhanded a shot from just below the right circle
into the upper left corner. Lemaire said Gaborik played with more
confidence after his hat trick against the Devils. "Now you can see that he wants the puck more," the coach
said. Game notes
The all-time series between the teams is tied 8-8-4. ...
Wild LW Matt Johnson received a match penalty for slashing Canucks
C Matt Cooke, who was assessed a 10-minute misconduct for roughing
in the fray. Cooke and Johnson, two old rivals from last year's
playoffs, argued most of the night, but Johnson became angry after
Cooke speared him. ... Just like they did at the All-Star game
earlier this month, the Minnesota crowd booed Bertuzzi -- another
hated foe from last year's second-round playoff series -- every time
he touched the puck.
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