Ryan Kesler helps Vancouver Canucks defeat Minnesota Wild 5-0: NHL Recap
Ryan Kesler notched the third hat-trick of his National Hockey League (NHL) career, and Goalie Roberto Luongo turned aside 29 shots to register his fourth shutout of the season, as the Vancouver Canucks thrashed the Minnesota Wild 5-0 on Thursday night.
Kesler scored his hat-trick in regulation time, hitting the 40-goal plateau for the first time in his NHL career.
An excited Kesler said after the game, “It’s a good milestone, but it was good to get the win tonight and get back on track. We definitely didn’t play our best hockey the last couple games. We need to continue going forward.”
Mason Raymond lit the lamp twice and Daniel Sadin dished out two assists for the Canucks, who bounced back from straight losses against the league's bottom side, the Edmonton Oilers.
With this victory, the Canucks moved up to a NHL-leading 102 points. The Canucks, who have already clinched the Presidents’ Trophy, will complete their regular season on Saturday in Calgary.
Goaltender Niklas Backstrom was benched after giving up five goals on 23 shots for Minnesota, who have dropped three consecutive games. Jose Theodore replaced Backstrom in the final frame and stopped five shots in the loss.
Minnesota Head Coach Todd Richards commented about Backstrom after the game by saying, “Maybe there was a couple he could have had, but it s a team effort. They have guys that if you are bit off and not executing the way you want, they make you pay.”
The Canucks were short a player, after forwardman Rafii Torres received a four-game suspension for hitting Edmonton forward Jordan Eberle on the head on Tuesday night. However, Vancouver brought in top defenseman, Alex Edler as his replacement.
The Canucks opened the scoring in the ninth minute of the opening frame on Mason Raymond’s first goal of the night. The goal came when Raymond unleashed a wrist shot from the blue line that beat Backstrom to make it 1-0.
Vancouver then doubled their advantage on a power-play with less than a minute remaining in the first stanza, when Kesler blasted a shot past the Minnesota net-minder for his first goal of the game.
The Canucks extended their lead to 3-0 in the eighth minute of the second period through Kesler’s second goal of the night. The goal came when Kesler collected the puck at centre ice, skated it into the right circle and fired a wrist shot that found its
way past Backstrom.
Raymond soon extended the Canucks lead to 4-0 in the 10th minute of the middle period when he put the puck through Backstrom’s pads for his second goal of the night.
Kesler closed the scoring with his third goal of the game less than three minutes into the final period. The goal came when Kesler wristed a shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Backstrom’s stick to complete his hat-trick.
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