Mats Zuccarello scored the only shootout goal and Filip Gustavsson turned in another stellar performance in net as the Wild edged the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 Saturday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center for their third straight victory.
Gustavsson, who had 35 saves on the night, stopped all three Canucks attempts in the shootout for the Wild (12-12-4), whose last victory against the Calgary Flames also went to a shootout.
Zuccarello scored in that shootout as well.
Frederick Gaudreau scored the lone regulation goal for Minnesota at 18:05 in the first period, and the Wild held the one-goal lead until Teddy Blueger tied the game for the Canucks (20-9-2) at 3:50 in the second period.
That’s as much scoring as the hot goaltending would allow. Vancouver’s Casey DeSmith was also a force in net, stopping 30 of 31 Wild attempts.
Only Zuccarello could get a goal past him in the shootout, but his goal was enough as Gustavsson proved too tough to crack.
The Wild return to action on Monday when they take on the Penguins in Pittsburgh at 6 p.m.
