Minnesota generally gets colder and darker come November. But for a Minnesota Wild team that stumbled out of the gates in its first dozen games, flipping the calendar to the eleventh month seems to have provided some vital daylight.
On the first night of November, the Wild turned in a much-needed start-to-finish effort and got rewarded, beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 to snap a five-game losing skid.
Clinging to a one-goal lead in the third period, the Wild got a clincher from an unlikely source, when third liner Vinnie Hinostoza snapped a rising shot off the glove of Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko. It was Hinostroza’s first goal of the season, and gave them some vital breathing room.
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists, while Marco Rossi, Jonas Brodin and Ryan Hartman also scored as Minnesota won for the first time since Oct. 20.
Drew O’Connor scored his first two goals of the season for Vancouver, but Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson had 26 saves in the win as Minnesota improved to 4-6-3 on the season and 2-3-2 at home.
Minnesota’s power play, which opened the day ranked fourth, statistically, in the NHL, got two chances in the first period. They failed to get a shot on the first man-advantage, but cashed in on their second chance.
After a set-up pass from Joel Eriksson Ek found him behind the Vancouver defenders, Tarasenko streaked across the top of the crease and tucked a backhand shot past Demko. It was Tarasenko’s second goal since joining the Wild via a trade with Detroit over the summer.
Almost as important, for a Wild penalty kill that entered the evening statistically last in the NHL, they negated the only penalty taken by the home team in the first period, icing the puck three times.
Vancouver began the middle frame with a strong push, recording seven of the period’s first eight shots and tying the score on Drew O’Connor’s first goal of the season. Gustavsson made the save on a wide-angle shot by Mackenzie MacEachern, only to have the rebound bounce right to the stick of O’Connor, who was crashing the net.
Tarasenko played the set-up role as the Wild regained the lead later in the second. His shot from the blue line made it through a crowd in front of Demko, and the goalie knocked it down, but was unable to stop Rossi’s crack at the rebound.
After Hinostroza provided a two-goal lead, Brodin’s shot from along the goal line found an imperceptible gap between the post and Demko’s blocker to put Minnesota up 4-1. O’Connor scored off a faceoff to the left of Gustavsson a short time later to keep things close.
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Demko finished with 22 saves for the Canucks, who fell to 6-7-0 under first-year coach Adam Foote. The coach brought his goalie to the bench with four minutes to go in favor of an extra attacker, only to see Hartman fire the puck from the far goal line into the empty net.
The Wild and Canucks will meet two more times this season – Dec. 6 in Vancouver and April 2 in St. Paul.
The Wild’s six-game homestand concludes on Tuesday with the Nashville Predators’ first visit of the season. It is a 7 p.m. start at Grand Casino Arena.
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