Dumba goal helps Wild spoil Vancouver's home opener 3-2
Vancouver's home opener was the first game with full capacity at Rogers Arena in 595 days
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Matt Dumba scored his first goal of the season midway through the third period, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over Vancouver on Tuesday night, spoiling the Canucks home opener.
Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild (5-1-0). Cam Talbot made 22 saves for Minnesota, which bounced back after a loss to Nashville on Sunday.
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"It feels great," Talbot said. "We talked about never losing two in a row. Coming into a tough building in their home-opener, obviously they’re going to have some momentum from the crowd.
"We established our game early, got out to a lead, which we haven’t been able to do this year, so I think that set the tone for the rest of the game."
Alex Chiasson scored on a power play, and Bo Horvat added a goal for the Canucks (3-3-1), who had their two-game win streak halted. Thatcher Demko stopped 27 shots for Vancouver.
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Vancouver's home opener was the first game with full capacity at Rogers Arena in 595 days.
The last time the Canucks played before a full house was in a 5-4 shootout win over the New York Islanders on March 10, 2020, two days before the NHL was put on pause due to COVID-19. The team played without fans in the stands during last year’s shortened season.
Talbot made a big stop off Vancouver’s Brock Boeser in the first period to keep the game 1-0.
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"It builds momentum," said Talbot, who is 5-0. "I’m just trying to go out there and make those big saves whenever I get an opportunity to.
"We get out to a lead, we want to try to hold onto it."
Dumba’s goal came after Vancouver’s Brock Boeser had taken a hard shot that went over the top of Minnesota’s net and around the boards. The Wild moved the puck up the ice and Dumba scored off a pass from Rem Pitlick.
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Horvat cut the lead to 3-2 at 15:53 after taking a long, lead pass from defenseman Tyler Myers, fighting off the check of a Wild defenseman, and scoring on a backhand.
"It was a tight-checking game, it felt like a playoff game out there," Horvat said. "They are kind of all over you, on top of you all the time.
"What killed us was a couple of turnovers. We have to be better than that."
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A Canucks turnover gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead at 2:27 of the second period. Vancouver defenseman Jack Rathbone coughed up the puck at his own blue line. Brodin fired a shot that Demko stopped, but then scored his first of the season on the rebound.
"We didn’t create a lot, we didn’t capitalize on a couple that we would have liked to have," Canuck coach Travis Green said.
"I thought they were a little bit heavier on a couple of pucks. We turned over a couple of pucks we would have liked to have back."
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The Wild came close just a few minutes later on a partial breakaway. Kevin Fiala fed Frederick Gaudreau at the front of the net, but Demko made the save.
Vancouver cut the lead to 2-1 on a power play at 10:26. With Nick Bjugstad off for interference, and Marcus Foligno playing without a stick, the Canucks controlled the puck in the Wild end. With five second remaining on the penalty, Elias Pettersson sent a pass in front of the net , and Chiasson directed the puck past Talbot.
Minnesota came close before the period ended when Pitlick had a breakaway after stepping out of the penalty box. But, his shot hit the post.
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The Wild opened the scoring at 7:41 of the first. Zuccarello got behind Canucks defenders Tucker Poolman and Quinn Hughes, took a long pass from Joel Eriksson Ek, and beat Demko through the pads for his third goal of the season.
The Canucks had the best scoring chance of the period just a few minutes later on a 3-on-1 breakaway. Boeser unloaded a hard shot off a fed from J.T. Miller but Talbot made the save.
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NOTES: Zuccarello’s goal was the first time this season the Wild opened the scoring. … Vancouver returned home from a six-game road trip, their longest of the season. … Eriksson Ek’s assist on the first goal was the 100th point of his career. … Travis Green coached his 296th regular season game leaving him fourth among Canuck coaches. Alain Vigneault leads with 540. … Canuck defenseman Tucker Poolman left the game late in the second period and didn’t return.
UP NEXT
Minnesota: At Seattle for the second game of a three-game trip.
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Vancouver: Host Philadelphia in the second game of a seven-game homestand.