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Sunday, February 1, 2015

{allcanada} Dubnyk, Wild stay hot with win against Canucks

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VANCOUVER -- Goaltender Devan Dubnyk continued to be a big part of the Minnesota Wild's turnaround on Sunday.

Zach Parise and Jared Spurgeon scored two minutes apart midway through the second period and Dubnyk made 35 saves to give the Wild a 4-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

Minnesota forward Thomas Vanek scored 7:08 into the third period, four minutes after a goal by the Canucks was called back. It turned out to be the game winner after Vancouver scored twice late.

Forward Ronalds Kenins scored his first NHL goal in his second game with 7:40 left to end Dubnyk's shutout, and Daniel Sedin made it a one-goal game 61 seconds later.

After Dubnyk denied Linden Vey in the slot, Wild forward Jason Zucker ended the comeback bid scoring an empty-net goal with 53 seconds left.

Dubnyk was working on a second straight shutout and third in six games since being acquired from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a third round pick on Jan. 14. Minnesota (23-20-6) had lost 12 of 14 before the trade, but is 5-1-1 since, moving within five points of the Canucks and Calgary Flames for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Dubnyk is 5-1-0 with a .935 save percentage for the Wild.

Minnesota got a break when Alexander Edler's goal 3:05 into the third period was waved off after the referee's huddled near the penalty boxes. Dubnyk made contact with Vancouver forward Radim Vrbata and moved to his right as Edler one-timed the puck, and it was initially called a goal.

Ryan Miller made 16 saves for the Canucks (27-18-3), who defeated the last-place Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday but have been shutout in three of their past four home games.

Parise opened the scoring on a soft goal 7:26 into the second period, throwing the puck at the net from below the left faceoff circle and watching it somehow slide under Miller after hitting defenseman Luca Sbisa as he slid to block the pass. It was the seventh goal in the past seven games for Parise.

Spurgeon doubled the lead on a power play two minutes later with a point shot through traffic past the glove of a screened Miller.

It was the fourth power-play goal surrendered by the Canucks' third-ranked penalty kill in 11 chances in their past three games, matching the amount they had given up in their previous 17 games.

After Edler's goal was called off, Vanek beat Miller with a slap shot over the blocker from the right faceoff circle on a 2-on-1.

Coming off a 1-0 shutout of the Calgary Flames on Thursday, Dubnyk stopped Shawn Matthias on a loose puck in the low slot two minutes into the game, and robbed Nick Bonino in tight with his left pad three minutes later.

Dubnyk squeezed his knees to deny Henrik Sedin's deflection and stopped a point-blank one timer from Linden Vey on a power play midway through the second period. He stopped Bonino again with the left pad on a backdoor tap-in late in the second period, and did the same to Burrows on a power play late in the third.

It looked like Dubnyk was on his way to another shutout before Kenins beat him under the left pad with a shot off the rush from inside the top of the left faceoff circle. Dubnyk almost played a similarly soft Jannik Hansen shot off the wing into his own net on the next shot.

Vrbata pulled Dubnyk off the near post by driving behind the net before passing it back, leaving Sedin with room to lift it over the pad of Dubnyk on the short side.

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