Canucks fall to Wild, 4-game win streak ends with shootout loss

Mats Zuccarello scored the lone goal in the shootout and the Minnesota Wild beat the visiting Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.

Frederick Gaudreau scored in regulation and Filip Gustavsson made 35 saves for Minnesota, which won its third in a row and is now 7-2 under coach John Hynes.

Teddy Blueger scored for Vancouver, while Casey DeSmith stopped 30 shots in goal. The Canucks had won four in a row.

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DeSmith was playing his first game since making 26 saves in a 2-0 shutout against Minnesota on Dec. 7, starting the Canucks’ brief winning streak.

The netminder started the day 5-0-0 with a 1.78 goals-against average and .943 save percentage in five career games against the Wild.

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Scoring came from unexpected sources for both teams.

In the first period, Minnesota opened the scoring with Gaudreau’s second goal of the season.

The line with enforcers Marcus Foligno and Pat Maroon displayed their skill. Maroon brought the puck into the offensive zone before a cross-ice pass to Foligno.

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Foligno quickly centered the puck and Gaudreau deflected it past DeSmith to finish the tic-tac-toe play. The assist was Maroon’s 300th career point.

Vancouver countered early in the second with Blueger’s third goal of the season. Dakota Joshua centered to Blueger, who was charging to the net and lifted the puck past Gustavsson.

The Wild were playing without injured captain Jared Spurgeon, who missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.

TRADE

On Friday, Vancouver acquired defenceman Nick Cicek and a 2024 sixth-round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks for forward Jack Studnicka.

Cicek, 23, has a goal and two assists in 18 this season for the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL. He has four assists in 16 career NHL games, all last season with the Sharks.

Studnicka has a goal in five games for Vancouver this season and a goal and six assists in nine games for Abbotsford in the AHL.

The 24-year-old center joined Vancouver in an October 2022 deal with Boston. He has six goals and 10 assists in 90 NHL games over parts of five seasons with the Bruins and Canucks.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Finish a back-to-back set in Chicago on Sunday.

Wild: Play at Pittsburgh on Monday.