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Canucks host sliding Wild in Northwest showdown

Jan 4, 2012 - 4:12 PM (Sports Network) - Following his team's loss on New Year's Eve, Wild head coach Mike Yeo said that he was ready to close out December and bring on January.

Perhaps the coach didn't see where his team would open up its 2012.

Struggling Minnesota will try to avoid falling further behind the first-place Canucks in the Northwest Division tonight by snapping a nine-game slide in Vancouver.

The early front runners in the division, the Wild are just 1-6-3 over their past 10 games and now sit three points back of the Canucks in the Northwest standings. Minnesota brought an eight-game slide to an end with a win over Edmonton on Dec. 29, but fell right back into the loss column two nights later with a 4-2 setback to the visiting Coyotes.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard had a tally and Matt Cullen scored on a penalty shot to pull the Wild within one, but the club was unable to muster any further offense. Niklas Backstrom made 26 saves in defeat.

"They scored two quick ones on us and took the momentum," Wild defenseman Greg Zanon said. "We kind of got it back and made a push, but it was too late."

Yeo said he was worried about this game following his team's emotional victory over the Oilers that snapped their longest slide of the season.

"The fact that we played four games in six days; there's fights, there's hits and there was a lot of emotion in that game [against Edmonton] and then you finally get the win and then you're a little bit worried that you're going to come back the next day and have a bit of a let down," said Yeo.

"We weren't good tonight and I'm not sure why."

Yeo has the option of putting a pair of healthy bodies back in the lineup tonight after the Wild activated both Devin Setoguchi and Casey Wellman from injured reserve on Tuesday. Setoguchi has missed the past 12 games with a lower-body injury, while an upper-body issue has kept Wellman out for the last nine contests.

After a bit of a breather, the Wild will play two straight and six of their next seven on the road. They have lost their past five games as the guest, a span that began with a 4-0 shutout loss at Vancouver on Dec. 19.

Roberto Luongo made 33 saves versus the Wild as the Canucks moved to 10-0-1 in their last 11 at home versus Minnesota. They haven't lost in regulation at Vancouver in this series since March 21, 2008.

The Canucks have won five of six and 15 of their last 21 versus the Wild overall.

The Sedin brothers have combined for 10 points against Minnesota this year, with Henrik logging a goal and two assists in the previous encounter and Daniel finishing with three helpers.

Henrik Sedin leads the NHL with 36 assists and is tied for the most points with 46, but was held without a point for the third time in 16 games on Monday in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Sharks.

Luongo posted 33 saves and Jannik Hansen and Cody Hodgson had the goals for Vancouver, which is still 6-2-1 in its past nine despite a second straight loss.

"I thought we battled hard. Like I said, we always have tough games against them," Hodgson said of facing the Sharks. "It's always within a goal, we knew that coming in the type of game we were going to play, we would just like to be on the right end of it."

Kevin Bieksa logged an assist to give the defenseman a goal and seven helpers over a seven-game point streak, a career high.