5-3! #mnwild defeats Vancouver on #homeice at @XcelEnergyCtr. Suter's PPG stands as the GWG. #VANvsMIN pic.twitter.com/ArEm9SQL6i
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 10, 2015
The Minnesota Wild picked up a big victory by beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 at Xcel Energy Center Monday night.
The Wild were scoring goals early and often in the victory. Five minutes into the game, Jordan Schroeder sparked Minnesota with his first goal of his Wild career.
The Wild pushed the lead to 2-0 two-and-a-half minutes later on a power play goal from Jason Pominville.
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That was just a taste of what was to come from the Wild. But while Minnesota’s offense was rolling, the defense had a few struggles in the early going.
Devan Dubnyk’s streak of 136 minutes of shutout hockey was snapped only moments after Pominville’s score, on a goal from Vancouver’s Zack Kassain.
The Wild regained control before the end of the first when Nino Niederreiter netted his 16th goal to put Minnesota back up by two. Ryan Suter and Kyle Brodziak also had goals for the Wild.
Mikko Koivu had a big night for Minnesota, finishing with three assists in the contest.
But the Wild also lost a pair of key forwards in the game.
Jason Zucker and Ryan Carter both left the game because of injuries. After the game, Wild coach Mike Yeo said both suffered upper-body injuries.
Yeo says Zucker and Carter have upper body injuries. "We should not expect them back in the lineup in the near future." #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 10, 2015
Minnesota returns to action on Tuesday in Winnipeg against the Jets.
Scoring Summary
1st period: 5:05 MIN – Jordan Schroeder (1) Backhand shot – Assist: Charlie Coyle (15), Matt Dumba (4) 1-0 MIN
1st period: 7:37 MIN – PPG Jason Pominville (10) Snap shot – Assist: Thomas Vanek (22), Mikko Koivu (21) 2-0 MIN
1st period: 10:18 VAN – Zack Kassain (4) Snap shot – Assist: Chris Higgins (14), Dan Hamhuis (10) 2-1 MIN
1st period: 15:37 MIN – Nino Niederreiter (16) Snap shot – Assist: Koivu (22), Ryan Suter (26) 3-1 MIN
2nd period: 1:11 VAN – Shawn Mathias (10) Backhand shot – Assist: Radim Vbrata (18) 3-2 MIN
2nd period: 7:05 MIN – PPG Ryan Suter (2) Slap shot – Assist: Koivu (23), Zach Parise (19) 4-2 MIN
2nd period: 7:59 MIN – Kyle Brodziak (7) Snap shot – Assist: Jared Spurgeon (9), Jonas Brodin (5) 5-2 MIN
3rd period: 17:57 VAN – Ryan Stanton (2) Tip-in – Assist: Daniel Sedin (33), Henrik Sedin (35) 5-3 MIN
