Canucks snap skid with dominant win over Wild
Canucks 5, Wild 0
By Brad Ziemer, Postmedia News
VANCOUVER — Ryan Kesler scored three times to hit the 40-goal plateau, Roberto Luongo earned his fourth shutout of the season, Daniel Sedin picked up two points to stretch his NHL scoring lead and the Vancouver Canucks got two points they really didn't need.
And to think the day had started off terribly. It sure ended well for the Canucks, who quelled any fears Thursday night they aren't primed for the playoffs.
Vancouver rebounded nicely from a pair of lacklustre losses to the last-place Edmonton Oilers with a resounding 5-0 win over the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Arena.
Playing without winger Raffi Torres, who earlier in the day received a four-game suspension for his hit Tuesday night on Edmonton forward Jordan Eberle, the Canucks did exactly what they needed to against the Wild. It's what they have been doing pretty much all season — scoring lots of goals and playing sound defensively.
"I think it was a good overall game for scoring some goals and getting some confidence back and at the other end tightening it up and not giving up a whole lot," said defenceman Kevin Bieksa. "I think we needed one of those games to get our swagger back and our confidence back. We've got one more to close it out and get ready for business."
If the Canucks needed a pre-game boost, they got it moments before the opening faceoff when the NHL presented the team with the Presidents' Trophy. There to accept the trophy along with team captain Henrik Sedin was injured centre Manny Malhotra.
Wearing sunglasses to protect his injured left eye, Malhotra received a thunderous ovation as he embraced Sedin. Neither player picked up the trophy, which sat on a table near the end of the rink.
"It was pretty emotional," Bieksa said of Malhotra's surprise appearance. "It's nice to see the fans recognize his contribution to our team and how important he is to us and what a tough time he is going through right now just being on the sidelines and not being able to participate. It was definitely a great moment . . . just to get that ovation, I know it means a lot to him inside."
There was another feel-good story outside the arena about an hour before the game when the Canucks unveiled a bronze statue of former coach Roger Neilson.
Neilson helped guide the Canucks to the 1982 Stanley Cup final and several of his players from that team — Darcy Rota, Dave (Tiger) Williams, Doug Halward, Stan Smyl, Ron Delorme, Thomas Gradin and Harold Snepsts — attended the ceremony. Those players did double-duty, also presenting the team awards prior to the game.
The Canucks had to play a man short because of the Torres suspension, but it didn't seem to matter against a Wild team that was missing several injured regulars and dressed nine players from its Houston farm team.
Mason Raymond scored twice and Luongo turned aside all 29 shots he faced to earn a shutout and cap off a brilliant regular season. He is scheduled to watch Cory Schneider play Vancouver's final regular-season game Saturday night in Calgary.
"We were a little disappointed with our last couple and we wanted to make sure we treat these last two games really seriously and play the game we want to play to head into the playoffs on a good note and obviously feeling good about ourselves," Luongo said.
Early in the first period, Luongo made a brilliant backdoor save on Brent Burns during a Wild power play. In the second, he absolutely robbed Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu from the edge of his crease.
Niklas Backstrom wasn't having nearly as good a night at the other end of the rink. The Canucks put everything but the salmon that was thrown onto the ice early in the second period past the Minnesota goalie.
Raymond opened scoring at 8:12 of the first, taking a cross-ice pass from Jannik Hansen and beating Backstrom short side from the right circle. Kesler redirected a Henrik Sedin pass on a power play at 19:32 to put Vancouver up 2-0.
Kesler's second of the night, at 7:20 of the second, came when he skated with speed into the right circle and whipped a wrist shot past Backstrom. Just over a minute later, Raymond converted a Daniel Sedin pass to make it 4-0. Kesler chased Backstrom when he beat him from long range at 2:18 of the third for goal No. 40. Jose Theodore mopped up for the Wild.
Kesler started the season without a hat trick. Now he has three.
"It's a good milestone," he said of reaching 40 goals. "But it's good to get the win and get back on track."
Defenceman Alex Edler returned to the Vancouver lineup after missing 31 games following back surgery. Edler dished out a couple of big hits and looked right at home playing alongside Christian Ehrhoff. He logged nearly 19 minutes of ice time.
"I didn't really feel tired out there," Edler said. "I tried to keep the shifts short and not get caught out there. It felt good. It was good to get the answer I can take hits and give some hits."
Daniel Sedin's two assists stretched his scoring lead to five points over Anaheim's Corey Perry.
Vancouver Sun
bziemer(at)vancouversun.com