NHL | Naslund gets hat trick for Canucks
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Markus Naslund scored three goals, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 Wednesday night.
Ryan Kesler also scored for the Canucks, 6-0-2 in their last eight games. Vancouver has gone 9-0-2 against Northwest Division opponents this season and moved into a first-place tie with Minnesota, which got two goals from Marian Gaborik.
“The buildup to this game was all about the remarks of the revenge. You can’t intimidate the [Sedin] twins and Markus Naslund,” Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said.
Each team entered the game with considerable anger directed at the other side since last Friday’s game in Vancouver.
In that one, Vancouver’s Mattias Ohlund earned a four-game suspension for his two-handed slash against Mikko Koivu after Koivu elbowed him in the head. Koivu has missed the past two games with a cracked bone in his left leg.
With the score tied at 2 early in the third period, Naslund charged in from the right side to tip a wrist shot from Daniel Sedin past Josh Harding.
Naslund and Henrik Sedin executed a two-on-one with 3:33 to play to give Naslund his 11th career three-goal game.
Note
• San Jose D Matt Carle agreed to a four-year, $13.75 million extension.