Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots for his first NHL shutout as the visiting 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.
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.
Steel put the Wild ahead 3-0 when he lifted a backhand over Martin’s shoulder at 8:51 of the third.
WATCH l Wild score in all 3 periods to top host Canucks:
Minnesota scored a goal in all 3 periods en route to a 3-0 victory in Vancouver.
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.
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.