Fontaine's tally in shootout lifts Wild over Canucks
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Vancouver, BC (SportsNetwork.com) - Justin Fontaine scored the lone goal in a lengthy seven-round shootout to lift the Minnesota Wild over the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1, at Rogers Arena.
After both goaltenders turned aside six shooters, Fontaine faked a shot and slid the puck through the five-hole of Eddie Lack. David Booth had a chance to keep the Canucks in the game, but Darcy Kuemper stood tall and denied Booth's spin-o-rama attempt to seal the win.
Zach Parise tallied the Wild's lone goal in regulation on the power play and Kuemper made 30 saves in Minnesota's fourth straight win.
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Ryan Kesler scored in his return to the lineup after sitting out Wednesday's game against St. Louis with a hand injury. Lack stopped 22 shots in defeat. The Canucks have lost their last four meetings against the Wild.
Kesler opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal 5:19 into the opening stanza. Chris Higgins worked the puck through the neutral zone off his body and up to Kesler, who entered the zone uncontested to beat Kuemper with a long-range shot.
A Minnesota goal was disallowed at 11:27 of the first. Keith Ballard fired a shot through a maze of players that was deflected into the net, but Erik Haula interfered with Lack and the goal was waved off.
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Parise sent a wrister over the shoulder of a screened Lack on the power play to tie the game at one with 5:48 left in the opening frame.
Neither team could score in the following two periods. Parise went off at 3:33 for boarding in overtime after throwing a heavy hit on Christopher Tanev from behind into the boards. The Canucks could not convert on the power play and the game went into a shootout.
Game Notes
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Dany Heatley extended his point streak to seven games with an assist on Parise's goal ... Kuemper is 10-2-2 in his last 14 starts ... Vancouver outshot Minnesota, 31-23.