Wild fall late in Vancouver

Minnesota dominated the Canucks in all three periods, then was undone by one bad play.

By Jess Myers, Pioneer Press – March 8, 2025

VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Late in the season, when teams are desperate to fight for their playoff lives, the margin between winning and losing can be razor thin.

That was the case on Friday night on the Canadian west coast, as a late mistake by the Minnesota Wild derailed an otherwise exemplary effort, and the Vancouver Canucks escaped with a 3-1 win.

Minnesota dominated the offensive zone in all three periods, but gave up the game-winner with less than 4 minutes to play after mustering just Brock Faber’s third-period, power-play goal versus Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen, who finished with 37 saves.

“It’s so emotional a time of the season. Everyone matters so much, and every loss (stinks) even more,” said Wild forward Marco Rossi, who set up their lone goal. “But I think we can’t be too low. It was a pretty good match. We outworked them. We had, really, a lot of chances. And I think if you criticize something, it’s maybe we should score more goals.”

With the loss, the Wild dropped into fourth place in the Central Division, and into the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with 19 games to play.

With the game tied 1-1 in the third period, Vancouver forward Kiefer Sherwood found open ice to the left of the Minnesota net, and snapped a quick shot past Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson as the Canucks evened their season series between these two teams. Former Minnesota State Mankato standout Teddy Blueger added an empty-net goal as the Wild came home with a .500 record on their two-game road trip.

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“It’s a little bit of a broken play, to be honest with you. It wasn’t so much of a structural thing. That’s what happens sometimes when you put a lot of pressure on a team, and you have all kinds of different looks. And sometimes it comes down to a bounce,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “You get in tight games, and it’s a tie game, I thought that we had the majority of the opportunities in the play. We didn’t capitalize on ours. And sometimes it’s a broken play that just happens.”

Gustavsson finished with 17 saves for the Wild.

Minnesota started strong, hemming the Canucks into their defensive zone for three consecutive shifts and testing the Vancouver goalie early. Then the Wild took back-to-back penalties, killing the first one without allowing a shot, but seeing a long-range shot get through a crowd and behind Gustavsson for a 1-0 lead by the home team.

After Ryan Hartman engaged in a brief fight with Sherwood, Minnesota got its first power play of the game but couldn’t muster a shot and headed to the first intermission down a goal despite a decided advantage in shots on goal.

Newcomer Justin Brazeau, who arrived from, literally, the other side of the continent a few hours before the game following his trade from Boston late Thursday, played two shifts in the opening period and recorded two hits.

“It was a lot, obviously, just new team, new system,” Brazeau said of his debut with Minnesota. “Legs were probably a little heavier than normal after the day, so it’s kind of nice to get those out of the way and get your feet wet and kind of get rolling here.”

In the middle frame, Minnesota again controlled the offensive zone for long stretches, and again the Wild found nothing but frustration in the Canucks crease, as Lankinen thwarted 13 shots, and a short-handed rush late in the period saw Gustav Nyquist’s shot hit the right goal post. Vancouver got the only power play of the period, and Gustavsson kept their lead at one by sliding across the crease, twice, to rob Canucks forward Conor Garland of a pair of sure-fire scoring chances.

They finally drew even on a third-period power play in which the Wild controlled the puck and had Vancouver scrambling. Rossi from down low threw the puck to Faber at the blue line, and the Minnesota defenseman ripped a shot into the upper right corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Not content with a tie, the Wild kept stretching the ice and pushing the offense, with Devin Shore sending a shot off the post near the midway mark of the third, and Vinnie Hinostroza pushed a point-blank shot just over the net. Looking like a team out of gas, the Canucks iced the puck on three consecutive shifts.

Then Sherwood got loose in the offensive zone, and won the game.

A few hours after the trade deadline, the Wild made one more small move, sending forward Reese Johnson to Toronto for future considerations. Johnson, 26, had played three games for Minnesota this season without recording a point, and had spent most of the year in Iowa.

“You try not to get too high or too low over games. With however (many), 19 games left, every game’s important and let that one sting and wake up tomorrow with another chance on Sunday,” Faber said. “We’ve got a big homestand here and it’s going to be nice staying off the plane and just getting time to regroup, play in front of our fans, get in a rhythm. It’s obviously a big stretch.”

The Wild begin a stretch where they will play 10 of their next 11 games at home, beginning Sunday afternoon when they host Pittsburgh for the Penguins’ lone visit to St. Paul this season.

PHOTO: Minnesota Wild’s Brock Faber (7) celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, March 7, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP