Canucks hang on to beat Minnesota
Canadian Press
11/9/2003
VANCOUVER (CP) - Todd Bertuzzi will take the win but nearly blowing a 4-0 lead against playoff rival Minnesota Wild doesn't sit too well with the Vancouver Canucks power forward.
``That's not acceptable,'' Bertuzzi said after scoring twice in a 4-3 win on Saturday. ``That's not the way we play, especially at home. But two points are two points, so we'll take them.''
The Canucks, who held the 4-0 lead until late in the second period, managed to hold off a Wild comeback long enough to extend their home unbeaten streak to eight games.
Vancouver, tops in the NHL with 22 points (10-3-2-0), has lost just once in its past 10 games.
Still, Bertuzzi says the team needs to find a killer instinct if it's going to be among the league's elite.
``Top teams get the game out of reach so teams can't find a way to get back in,'' he said. ``We have to find to way to do it and not let teams stay around and try to catch up.''
Rookie Jason King continued to impress, scoring his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Matt Cooke also scored for the Canucks while Daniel Sedin extended his point streak to six consecutive games (one goal, five assists) after helping set up King's goal.
Cloutier stopped 26 shots, including a great pad save off Marian Gaborik, who was in alone after Ed Jovanovski coughed up the puck at the Minnesota blue-line.
The win also helped Cloutier and Co. get a little revenge against the Wild, whose last trip to GM Place was for Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals back in May. That time, the Canucks blew a 2-0 lead and were eliminated from the playoffs.
``It's early in the season but you still want to go out and play well against the team that knocked you out of the playoffs,'' said Cloutier. ``It's nice to beat these guys because you never know, we might play them again.''
Gaborik, playing in his third game since signing a new multi-year contract, scored his first goal of the season later in the game. Another late signee, Pascal Dupuis, scored his second goal in as many games while a resurgent Alexandre Daigle picked up his fifth goal of the season for Minnesota, 6-7-2-0.
``I feel more comfortable,'' said Gaborik. ``I got my legs back a little bit and feel pretty good now.''
Manny Fernandez, who was unbeaten in his past three starts, was pulled before the second period after surrendering three goals on eight shots. Dwayne Roloson stopped 18 shots the rest of the way.
``We play each other pretty good,'' said Wild captain Andrew Brunette. ``It's always pretty close games. They've come back on us before and we feel we can come back on them. I think it goes both ways. It's a good rivalry. They don't like us and we don't like them much.''
The Wild trailed 3-0 after the first period despite outshooting the Canucks 10-8.
Fernandez's rough night started about eight minutes into the game when he tried to handle a dump-in shot behind his own net. The puck got caught up in his skates, only to be swept up by Bertuzzi, who tore around the net and shovelled it into the wide-open net.
King made it 2-0 a few minutes later thanks to some textbook passing by his linemates. Daniel Sedin got the puck over the Minnesota blue-line and fired a hard pass right to brother Henrik, who found himself on a two-on-one rush with King.
Sedin backhanded the puck right onto the tape of King's stick and he one-timed it past Fernandez, who was way out front to challenge Henrik.
Bertuzzi's second goal of the night made it 3-0 and came on the power play with just seven seconds to go in the period. The power forward, stationed right in front of Fernandez, tipped in Naslund's slap shot for his fifth goal of the season.
Cooke gave the Canucks a commanding 4-0 lead at 11:31 of the second period but Dupuis and Gaborik scored 48 seconds apart to get the Wild back in the game.
``The four goals came quickly and we kind of thought it would be an easy night,'' said Markus Naslund, who assisted on one of Bertuzzi's goals. ``Obviously, they'll jump on you if you start thinking that.''
Daigle made it 4-3 in the third period when he took a pass from Marc Chouinard and beat Cloutier with 5:43 left to play.
Much like the playoff series, the game had its rough moments. There were a handful of scrums after whistles and four fights, including two by Wild defenceman Brad Brown and Canucks winger Brad May.
May didn't return after the second tilt but, despite a cut over his eye, said he isn't injured.
``I didn't come back because, honestly, I was tired,'' said May. ``I just ran out of gas. Brad Brown, I've fought him many times in the past and it's always a good matchup. It was good for both of us tonight.''
Does that mean the pair will square off again on Tuesday when the teams play the second game of their home-and-home series?
``Yeah, you never know,'' May said with a grin.
Notes: Canucks winger Magnus Arvedson missed the game after suffering a groin injury in Thursday's loss to the St. Louis Blues. Blue-liner Brent Sopel, was who questionable after also tweaking his groin in that game, was in the lineup.
Cheers,
Aquaman