Wild 2 - 1 Canucks
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Fontaine's tally in shootout lifts Wild over Canucks

Mar 1, 2014 - 6:42 AM 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.

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.

"I'm really happy with some of the structure I saw in this game," Vancouver head coach John Tortorella said. "We have to keep on fighting."

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.

"I never touched the goalie," Haula said of the play. "All that matters is we got two points."

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

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.






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