By Jamie MacDonald
FOXSportsNorth.com
February 15, 2011
Hosting the Canucks is generally a thrill for Wild fans in Saint Paul. The Northwest Division rivals have a spirited history, and the 2010-11 season series had until Tuesday night brought success.
The Wild entered with two wins in as many meetings at Xcel Energy Center this season, and the Canucks were limping to town with four regular defensemen missing and a Monday night loss in Saint Louis fresh in their minds.
Vancouver, the league's top team in terms of points, halted its losing streak at one. On Tuesday, the visitors opened the scoring -- significant in that Vancouver entered with 30 wins under that circumstance -- then managed, while being outplayed throughout much of the game, to hang on for a 4-1 win at Xcel Energy Center.
In fact, Minnesota provided most of the game's scoring threats, particularly in a third period that saw the home team finish with a 13-1 shots advantage. But the Canucks responded quickly to threats, defended well, blocked some shots and took advantage of those that hit Cory Schneider.
"I thought the guys played hard," Todd Richards said afterward. "I thought we really limited their chances. [We] spent a majority of the third in their zone ... we just weren't able to capitalize."
The turning point was likely Vancouver's third goal, which gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead at the 19:41 mark of the second.
"Those are the chances that win and lose you hockey games," said Clayton Stoner. "Lately, that's been us scoring those goals. I don't think we can let it bother us too much. We've been playing good hockey."
POWER GAME
While the Wild's penalty kill has been nearly lights-out in the New Year, Vancouver capitalized on its first opportunity. A Sami Salo shot from the point appeared to be headed high, but Manny Malhotra reached up to deflect the puck past Niklas Backstrom at 5:15 of the first. The play went to review but was deemed a good goal.
Minnesota also scored on its power play to even things at 1-1.
Courtesy the hard work of Eric Nystrom, who drew a hooking call from Salo at 15:10 of the first, the Wild used nearly every bit of their two minutes to convert. With the crowd imploring someone to shoot, Jared Spurgeon moved the puck from the point to Kyle Brodziak a bit lower in the zone. Brodziak also elected to pass, finding Cal Clutterbuck on the goal line to Schneider's right.
With his left skate nearly on the line, Clutterbuck let fly with a shot from the lower arc of the faceoff dot that caught Schneider's shoulder, ricocheted off the crossbar and behind the goaltender in at 17:02.
From there, the Wild continued to pressure the Vancouver net, holding the Canucks without a shot until the 3:55 mark of the second.
The game started to slow down for a bit, which Clutterbuck attributed to the Wild not executing as well as it had been recently, and Vancouver went on to score twice in the middle frame. The first came on a scramble of a shift that found Matt Cullen nearly alone in front of the net trying to mark Jannik Hanesen, who popped in a backhand at 12:49 to make it 2-1.
What would have been a very manageable deficit heading into the third became something more formidable when Mikael Samuelsson's snap shot beat Backstrom high to the glove side with 18.1 seconds before the intermission.
NO CHARM IN THE THIRD
Minnesota essentially held the Canucks without a shot over the last 20. Vancouver's only official shot came on an empty-netter in the closing seconds, while the Wild recorded a baker's dozen.
In a 1:30 span near the 5:00 mark, Brent Burns turned around a Pierre-Marc Bouchard pass and put it in Schneider's belly; Mikko Koivu, often at his relentless best Tuesday, also had a nice opportunity out front; Antti Miettinen had one of his multiple chances set up by Andrew Brunette thwarted; and Martin Havlat passed a puck to himself behind his back to break in the zone and give the home crowd a lift.
Nothing, though, sneaked past Schneider.
A late power play, Minnesota's fourth, gave the Wild one last chance to pull its goalie and make something happen, but it also gave Vancouver free shots from the Wild end. Ryan Kesler's 140-foot shot attempt knocked off the right post and in at 19:44.
CLUTTERBUCK CRUISING
On the heels of Vancouver's second goal, Todd Richards sent out the line of Brodziak, Clutterbuck and Havlat. At 13:36, Clutterbuck and Brodziak were streaking in on Cory Schneider on a two-on-one break. Clutterbuck elected to shoot, hitting the crossbar on a wrist shot that, had it been an inch or so lower, may have knotted things at 2-2.
On his next shift, Clutterbuck submitted the kind of multidimensional effort that has made him such an interesting and critical part of the Wild this season.
He opened the shift with a board-rattling hit on Yann Sauve in front of the penalty boxes. A few seconds later, the puck found Clutterbuck near the right faceoff dot, from which he pulled a quick backhand-forehand move and took another dangerous shot on Schneider. Near the end of the shift, Clutterbuck, this time along the left wall, managed to pick the puck out of traffic and feed Havlat to keep the play alive.
"I have a foundation, a base game that I like to bring every single night," Clutterbuck said. "Some nights I'll feel well, some nights I won't, but when I get the chance to shoot the puck, I'm going to shoot the puck. And when I get the chance to finish somebody, I'm going to finish. I'm just looking for consistency out of myself. So far, so good."
On Tuesday, Clutterbuck led the Wild with five shots, and he shared the lead in hits with Nystrom and Cam Barker, all with five.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"I can't remember. Honestly."
