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Radivojevic's two goals lifts Wild over Canucks

Dec 20, 2006 - 6:06 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- It's too bad Branko Radivojevic and the Minnesota Wild can't play all of their games at home.

Radivojevic scored two goals while Brian Rolston had a goal and an assist as the Wild downed the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2.

The victory gave the Wild, who improved to 13-3-1 at home, a split of the home-and-home series with the Canucks, who defeated Minnesota, 2-1, on Saturday. Minnesota is only 4-11-1 on the road this season.

"In the two games, we've been coming out hard, and deserved a better fate," Minnesota goaltender Manny Fernandez said. "We felt like we worked hard enough to get the win (in Vancouver) but it slipped from us. There's something about home where you get the same effort, and things take a different turn. We get good bounces, we get some goals, we get the lead, and we play better with the lead."

"We just weren't consistently good enough to win," Vancouver center Trevor Linden said. "We got back in the game to make it 2-1, but when you make the type of mistakes we did, you're not going to win."

Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak, should be in for a tough test when they play the Detroit Red Wings in three of their next four games.

Radivojevic netted the game winner at 17:12 of the second period when he followed a rush by Todd White, picked up a loose puck and snapped it over goaltender Roberto Luongo's shoulder for a 3-1 lead.

"White did a good job and their defenseman fell down, and I thought I had a little time, so I didn't snap it right away," Radivojevic said. "I controlled the puck and took a second to shoot it on net."

His second goal, an empty-netter, came with 1:56 left in the third period.

"I was just lucky. I was there at the right time," Radivojevic said. Pavol Demitra and Mark Parrish scored the other goals for Minnesota, which got 20 saves from Fernandez. Demitra's goal was a strange one, as he blasted a slap shot from the blue line which seemed to dip before eluding Luongo just 1:47 into the first period.

"Demitra's slap shot was a curveball," Luongo said. "I don't know if he's doing it on purpose. It's kind of a weird thing. It was dropping on me. It's a bit frustrating to start the game like that."

Demitra, who recorded his 600th career point on Saturday, has three goals and two assists in his last five games.

Linden and Kevin Bieksa scored for the Canucks, and Luongo finished with 22 saves.

"It was a game of momentum, back and forth, pretty much," Luongo said. "They came at us in waves, they had six shots right away in the first, and came after us right away in the second again. The difference is they capitalized on their chances, and we didn't."

Mikko Koivu and White each had two assists for the Wild, who play three of their next four games on the road.