THE CULL OF THE WILD
The Canucks take advantage of some shaky goaltending and a third-period goal by Sven Baertschi to beat Minnesota 5-4
The Canucks were faced with the ultimate indignity.
The Minnesota Wild didn’t just start their backup goalie, they did it with two days off before Tuesday’s game and two days off after that.
So even with one game in five days, they benched their star Devan Dubnyk, the goalie who has been every bit as good as Carey Price this season. Maybe better. Easy win, right? They didn’t account for the Canucks’ young guns.
Whether it really was to give Dubnyk rest or an attempt to motivate the Wild against the non-threatening Canucks, it hardly mattered to Vancouver.
They need all the help they can get. And if it takes a Darcy Kuemper in net to get a win, so be it.
Oh, the Canucks took advantage of Kuemper all right and something amazing happened along the way. The Wild and the Canucks played an exciting game. OK, not all of it. But there were some thrills in there, including a late Sven Baertschi goal with 2:35 remaining in regulation.
It has been quite the turnaround for Baertschi, who choked on a couple dozen scoring chances. But now he can’t seem to miss.
Neither can the Canucks. At least, not against Kuemper.
They scored six goals, although only five counted, against the best defensive team in the NHL.
Better yet, they pushed in two power-play goals for the first time since Oct. 22. Without Alex Edler, coach Willie Desjardins put Troy Stecher and Ben Hutton on the points of that first power-play unit. The duo paid off.
One is 22 and the other 23 years old and both were dynamic playing with the Sedins. It was Stecher’s point shot that was tipped in for the Canucks’ first goal and on the second, Hutton lifted a rebound and tossed it into the net.