Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots for his first NHL shutout and Connor Dewar broke the Vancouver Canucks’ back with a short-handed goal as the Minnesota Wild used a 3-0 victory to end a two-game losing skid.
“It’s a relief,” said Gustavsson, who was playing in his 37th career game after being traded to the Wild in July from the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s been close. You set a few small goals along the way. I wanted to win in the NHL and now we’ve got a shutout. Now we’re going to look at the next step.”
After a sluggish first period, the Canucks looked like they were climbing back into the game in the second.
Down 1-0, and heavily outshooting the Wild, the Canucks were awarded their third consecutive power-play opportunity.
Vancouver’s J.T. Miller sent a blind cross-ice pass in the Wild’s zone that Dewar intercepted. He skated the length of the ice and blew a shot over Canucks goaltender Spencer Martin’s blocker for his fourth goal of the year.
It was Dewar’s third short-handed goal of the season, leaving him tied for the league lead with Reilly Smith of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau called the goal a “sort of back-breaker.”
“You could see the wind really go out of the sails of a lot of players,” he said.
A frustrated Miller took the blame.
“It was a mistake,” said Miller, who is third on the Canucks with 26 points and 11 goals. “They scored on it. It was obviously not good.”
“I’ve got to be better for the team and lead by example.”
Matt Boldy, on a first-period power play, and Sam Steel, on a pretty backhand in the third, also scored for the Wild (14-11-2), who were playing their third game in four nights. Mats Zuccarello had two assists.
Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov saw his franchise-record 14-game point streak end.
Many of the shots Gustavsson faced were from long-range. He made a nice stop on a Bo Horvat deflection on a second-period power play, then got a right pad on an Ilya Mikheyev shot on the doorstep with 8:15 left in the third period.
Martin stopped 30 shots for the Canucks (12-13-3), who saw their three-game win streak end. It was the first time this year Vancouver was shut out.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2022.
Comments