Canucks fall in 4th straight
Vancouver blown out by Minnesota to end 6-game road trip; hosts Montreal on Saturday
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A date with roadweary Vancouver came at the right time for the Minnesota Wild.
Mikko Koivu had a goal and two assists, and the Wild rebounded from a recent hiccup by thumping the Canucks 6-2 on Thursday night. Eric Staal and Matt Dumba had a goal and an assist, and Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker also scored for the Wild, who had a season high in goals. Ryan Suter had two assists, and Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves. Minnesota has won four of five and 11 of 14.
Minnesota, which ended seven-game trip last Sunday with five wins, was not sharp Tuesday in a 5-2 home loss to Washington.
“We want to be great at home. Obviously, the way the Caps beat us was definitely not fun. We made sure we came out strong and prove ourselves and go right back on track,” Niederreiter said.
Minnesota is 6-1-2 at Xcel Energy Center this season. It is 22-3-8 on home ice since Dec. 27, 2017.
“I didn’t think we were at the top of our game, but I think they looked very tired like they were wanting to get home,” said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau.
The Canucks were at the end of their second six-game road trip of the season and started a netminder who hadn’t played in the NHL in more than 19 months.
Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund scored for Vancouver, which has lost three straight in regulation and four in a row overall.
The Canucks have played a league-high 14 road games, double their number of home contests but will be back in Vancouver to host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Koivu, who assisted on Minnesota’s opening goal, scored one of the easiest goals of his 14-year career on the power play to make it 2-0 less than eight minutes into the game. Canucks goalie Richard Bachman passed from behind his net directly to Koivu feet from an empty net.
“It happens sometimes, and mistakes are a part of the game,” said Koivu, who has 10 points, including two goals, in his last six games. “I’m sure he’d like to get that one back.”
“I just fanned on it,” Bachman said. “Most times I’ll get those up, out and down the ice. . . . Maybe I was overthinking just a little because it had been awhile.”
Bachman, who played last season and the start of this season with AHL Utica, was in goal for Vancouver for the first time since April 9, 2017. He made 23 saves.
Jacob Markstrom had started the nine previous games, Anders Nilsson remains out with a fractured finger and top prospect Thatcher Demko is still sidelined by postconcussion symptoms. Nilsson took some shots during the morning skate but has not been medically cleared to play.
With Vancouver’s spotty defence, Bachman was forced to make sprawling saves, and a couple other pucks trickled just wide.
“It was the players in front of him who let him down tonight,” said defenceman Michael Del Zotto.
Horvat got the Canucks within 3-1 with a power-play goal, but Staal scored on a wraparound 36 seconds later to restore the three-goal lead.
Dumba’s shot from the blue line then beat a screened Bachman for his seventh goal of the season, one behind Toronto’s Morgan Rielly for the league high by a defenceman.
Minnesota is tied with Ottawa with a league-best 17 goals scored by defencemen.
NOTES: Wild LW Zach Parise missed the game with an illness . . . . Horvat leads the Canucks with 18 points, including 10 goals. . . . Vancouver rookie C Elias Pettersson, who has 10 goals and 17 assists, was held pointless for the fourth straight game.
CANADIENS 3 FLAMES, 2
CALGARY — Artturi Lehkonen’s goal at 12:14 of the third period broke a 2-2 tie as the Montreal Canadiens scored twice in the third period for a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Lehkonen’s first goal in 18 games, dating back to the season-opener, came on a harmless-looking 40-foot wrist shot from off the wing that leaked through the pads of Mike Smith.
Smith finished with 19 stops to fall to 5-7-1.
Far busier at the other end was Carey Price, who had 43 stops to improve to 6-4-3.
Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Drouin also scored for Montreal (10-6-3), which has split the opening two games of its three-game Western Canada road trip.
Max Domi had an assist for the Canadiens to extend his point streak to eight games.
Matthew Tkachuk scored both goals for Calgary (10-8-1). Tkachuk’s eighth and ninth markers of the season give him a team-best 21 points on the season. Mark Giordano had two assists.
The Flames will continue their four-game homestand on Saturday when they host the Edmonton Oilers.