Wild 2 - 3 Canucks
Final - OT
  for this game

Salo lifts Canucks over Wild in OT

Oct 23, 2011 - 4:15 AM Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Sami Salo scored a power-play goal with 21 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild at Rogers Arena.

Minnesota's Dany Heatley went off for slashing with 1:15 left in the extra frame, and Salo let go a slap shot that beat Niklas Backstrom high on the glove side.

"I can't put myself in that spot," Heatley said.

Cory Schneider made 21 saves for Vancouver, which notched its eighth straight home win over the Wild.

"Everybody has picked it up," said Salo. "I think everybody has really worked hard on their game."

Backstrom stopped 29 shots for Minnesota, which was coming off Thursday's shootout win at Edmonton. The Wild haven't won consecutive road games since January 25-February 3, 2011.

Trailing 2-1, The Canucks pulled even 2:06 into the third period when Jannik Hansen got his stick on Manny Malhotra's shot from the right point, deflecting it between the legs of Backstrom.

Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, both of whom came over from San Jose in separate offseason trades, worked a give-and-go and Setoguchi beat Schneider with a backhander to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead at the 8:57 mark of the first period.

The goal came just two seconds after Andrew Alberts' roughing penalty had expired.

Because Vancouver was called for three infractions during the opening 20 minutes, Backstrom didn't see much rubber, making only four saves. But he did deny Maxim Lapierre on a shorthanded breakaway.

The Canucks tied the game on the power play late in the second period. Daniel Sedin held the puck below the icing line in the right corner and fired a pass to the slot for Ryan Kesler. But the puck deflected off a Wild player and past Backstrom with 3:32 remaining.

However, the deadlock was short lived as Kyle Brodziak converted Nick Johnson's pass from behind the net 1:43 later.

Game Notes

After the game, the Canucks acquired forwards David Booth and Steve Reinprecht and a 2013 third-round draft pick from the Florida Panthers in exchange for forwards Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm...Salo played in his 700th career game...The Wild fell to 1-0-3 when leading after two periods this season...Five of Minnesota's last six games have gone beyond regulation.






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