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12/06/2008 0:00am
Canucks beat Wild, regain first place in Northwest Division
Dec. 6--The Vancouver Canucks have the Wild's number this season, and as a result they have a one-point lead in the NHL's Northwest Division.
Kevin Bieksa and Jason Jaffray scored goals, and backup goaltender Cory Schneider needed only 16 saves as Vancouver improved to 3-0 against the Wild this season with a 2-1 victory Friday night in front of 18,568 at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Canucks snapped a four-game losing streak and regained first place in the Northwest Division.
"They were good. They were better than we were," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said.
Vancouver jumped on the Wild early and never let up, controlling the puck until the game's final minutes, when Schneider made two saves to seal his first NHL victory. But it was really Vancouver's defense that made it happen.
"They were unbelievable. Not too many shots," said Schneider, who with Curtis Sanford is trying to fill in for starter Roberto Luongo, out indefinitely because of a groin injury. "They got the puck out of the zone; I thought that was the key."
Minnesota had just 10 shots on goal through the first two periods, outshot 26-10. Mikko Koivu cleaned up a rebound to tie the score 1-1 just 27 seconds into the second period, extending his point streak to seven games (5-6--11), but that was one of the few genuine scoring chances the Wild got all night.
The Wild were without Owen Nolan, who left after one shift with a lower-body injury, and didn't get many calls in a chippy game. But that
didn't explain the Canucks' dominance.
"Credit to them, they played good defensively tonight," Wild center Eric Belanger said. "They didn't give us any chances in the first two periods. In the third, I thought we had some life, but it took us two periods to get going again."
The Wild play their next four games on the road -- starting tonight in Nashville -- and it might do them good. Their latest loss wrapped up a 12-game stretch in which they played 10 at home. They went 5-5-0 in those games, losing five of the last eight.
These teams meet three more times this season, but not again until Jan. 31 at GM Place, where no doubt the bad blood will continue to spill. Friday's game was delayed by several dust-ups, including a fight between the Wild's James Sheppard and agitator Ryan Kesler on the first shift.
It was Sheppard's second NHL fight.
"They're going to try to grab someone who doesn't really fight, like Shep," Wild winger Cal Clutterbuck said. "That's what you come to expect from those kinds of guys."
The fight didn't seem to get the Wild's blood moving, though. They managed only three first-period shots and fell behind 1-0 on Bieksa's slap shot from the point with three seconds left on their first power play.
Derek Boogaard received a questionable boarding call to give Vancouver that man advantage (victim Willie Mitchell never hit the boards) and got kicked out late in the game. He and Vancouver's Darcy Hordichuk were tossed from a relatively tame scrum and given game misconducts while Brent Burns and Jaffray tried to kill each other in the near corner.
Boogaard, who played more than 10 minutes for just the second time in his career, also appeared to draw a tripping penalty on Mitchell midway through the third period that would have given Minnesota a crucial power-play chance. But it was never called.
"Probably because it was Boogie," Belanger said. "That was a penalty."
"Maybe they didn't see it," Boogaard said with a laugh.
Still, it's difficult to blame the loss on the officiating. Vancouver skated harder, won more battles, made better passes and nearly blocked more shots (17-14) despite outshooting Minnesota by 15 shots.
"It was a little tough," Lemaire said, "but still, we have to play better, we have to play harder."
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