Staal stays hot as Wild rout Vancouver Canucks

Eric Staal’s second-period goal stood up as the winner as the visiting Minnesota Wild downed the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Friday night. Staal broke a 2-2 tie at 15:38 of the middle frame as he got a piece of teammate Mikael Granlund’s shot while tangling with Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher.
“It was a great shot by Granny,” Staal told Sportsnet. “I got an inside position and got a lucky bounce. We’ll take it.”
The marker was the 17th in 18 games for the 33-year-old Staal, who is challenging for the NHL goal-scoring lead with 37, three behind leader Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.
The score was tied 1-1 after the first period and the Wild led 3-2 after 40 minutes before counting two more goals in the game’s final minute.
Zach Parise, Matt Cullen, Charlie Coyle and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Wild as Minnesota earned its third straight win and improved to 8-2-1 in its past 11 games.
Coyle scored into an empty net in the final minute as Vancouver goaltender Anders Nilsson was pulled for an extra attacker. After Coyle scored, Foligno put home a shot with Nilsson back in net. Cullen and Coyle each recorded an assist as well.
Michael Del Zotto and Jussi Jokinen, with his second goal in two games, replied for the Canucks, who suffered their second straight loss and finished 1-2-2 on their five-game home stand.
Minnesota netminder Devan Dubnyk saved 30 of 32 shots en route to his 30th win of the season. Nilsson finished with 28 saves on 32 shots.
The Canucks were looking for a better effort from themselves after being embarrassed 2-1 on Wednesday by the lowly Arizona Coyotes in a game that was much more one-sided than the score indicated. Del Zotto put the Canucks on the scoreboard first – only 53 seconds into the game – as he picked up his own rebound off the end boards and put in a wraparound.
But Parise drew the Wild even less than two minutes later on a shot from a sharp angle. The goal extended Parise’s scoring streak to six games. The Canucks thought they had taken the lead with 3:24 left in the first period, but a video review showed that Sam Gagner directed the puck in with his skate.
Cullen gave the Wild a 2-1 advantage at 2:46 of the second period as he beat Nilsson on a forehand-to-backhand deke during a rush. Jokinen created a 2-2 tie just over five minutes later as he put in Erik Gudbranson’s rebound, setting the stage for Staal’s heroics.

Big third period lifts Stars over Ducks
Jamie Benn’s power-play goal with 5:37 to play on a redirected shot by John Klingberg was the difference as the Dallas Stars came from behind to beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Friday at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas.
Dallas cemented its hold on the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference and remained in fourth place in the Central Division. The Stars have won just two of their past five, with three of those games, and two of the losses, coming in overtime.
Ryan Getzlaf got the Ducks on the board with 2:44 to play in the first period when he skated down the right wing and wired a wrist shot over the blocker of Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Corey Perry and Rikard Rakell got assists on the goal.
After a scoreless second period, Dallas tied the match with 11:10 to play in the third period on a power-play goal by Devin Shore, who deflected a pass by Tyler Seguin past Anaheim netminder Ryan Miller. Benn was granted an assist on the tally.
Sam Bennett and Matt Stajan gave their team much-needed secondary scoring and rookie goalie David Rittich again surrendered only one goal as visiting Calgary beat Ottawa.
Rittich made 29 saves at Canadian Tire Centre to claim his second consecutive win with a strong outing. He stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 5-1 win at Buffalo on Wednesday.