By Canadian Press

Gustavsson earns first career shutout as Wild defeat Canucks 3-0

Dec 10, 2022 | 11:54 PM

VANCOUVER — Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots for his first NHL shutout as the Minnesota Wild snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night.

Matt Boldy, on the power play, and Connor Dewar, shorthanded, scored for the Wild (14-11-2), who were playing their third game in four nights. Mats Zuccarello collected his second assist of the night on Sam Steel’s third-period goal.

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.

Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov saw his franchise-record 14-game point streak end.

Goaltender Spencer 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 shutout.

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Steel put the Wild ahead 3-0 when he lifted a backhand over Martin’s shoulder at 8:51 of the third.

After being badly outplayed in the opening period, the Canucks outshot the Wild 19-7 in the second, but it was Minnesota who went ahead 2-0 on Dewar’s short-handed goal at 16:08 of the period.

The Wild were killing their third consecutive penalty when Vancouver’s J.T. Miller threw a pass off the boards in Minnesota’s zone that Dewar intercepted. He skated the length of the ice and blew a shot over Martin’s blocker for his fourth goal of the year.

It was the second short-handed breakaway Martin faced in the period. Earlier, he stopped Joel Eriksson Ek on a two-man breakaway.

Boldy opened the scoring at 16:43 of the first period, just eight seconds after Vancouver’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson was sent off for hooking. Zuccarello fired a shot from the point that Martin stopped but Boldy put in the rebound for his 10th of the year.

The Wild outshot Vancouver 14-4 in the first period. Martin kept it close stopping Jordan Greenway on a breakaway and getting a leg on a Marcus Foligno shot on a power play.

NOTES: Horvat played in his 600th NHL game. … Martin made his fourth straight start since Thatcher Demko suffered a lower-body injury Dec. 1. …. The Canucks outshot the Wild 10-0 in the first seven minutes of the second period. … Miller has one goal in his last 11 games but has collected nine assists over that span. … The Canucks had won their previous three games in overtime. Elias Pettersson scored the winner in the last two against Montreal and San Jose. … Foligno played in his 700th NHL game. … Centre Samuel Walker, who played his first NHL game, is the first Wild to wear No. 74. … Minnesota played its fourth of 12 sets of back-to-back games. … The Wild limped in Vancouver after losing 5-2 to Edmonton Friday and 5-3 to Calgary Wednesday.

UP NEXT

The Canucks play in Calgary on Wednesday then return to Rogers Arena for three games at home beginning Saturday against Winnipeg. 

The Wild return home for a homestand with games against Edmonton on Monday, Detroit Wednesday, Chicago on Friday then Ottawa Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2022.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press