Saturday night the Vancouver Canucks were embarrassed 5-2 at home by the Toronto Maple Leafs and on Monday night it was deja vu.
In coach John Torchetti’s first game as bench boss, the Minnesota Wild delivered him a decisive win as five different players scored on the night.
Zach Parise, Jared Spurgeon, Justin Fontaine, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter each scored for the Wild (24-22-10), who ended an eight-game losing streak that cost former coach Mike Yeo his job Saturday. Erik Haula and Ryan Suter each had two assists, and Minnesota scored more than four goals for the first time since Dec. 17 and won for the second time in 15 games.
On the Canucks (22-22-12) side, Christopher Tanev and Henrik Sedin scored power play goals to lead the home team’s offense.
Torchetti, who was promoted from Iowa of the American Hockey League affiliate, wasted little time making changes in his first game as an NHL coach since 2005-06, switching three forward lines and two defense pairings. The moves paid off early.
The Wild outshot the Canucks 12-2 early and Zack Parise was able to knock defenseman Matt Bartkowski off the puck, and sent a slap shot over Markstrom’s glove side shoulder at 9:31 of the first period for his 18th goal of the year.
The Canucks would tie it up a few minutes later when Tanev scored on the power play off a deflection at 15:29 for his 3rd of the season.
The Wild quickly regained the lead just a minute later when Spurgeon’s shot off the right boards from near the top of the faceoff circle deflected off Matt Bartkowski’s stick and caught Markstrom moving, going over his right shoulder as he appeared to duck the other way.
In the second period and being outshot 19-4, the Wild increased their lead to 3-1 when Fontaine received a cross ice pass from Erik Haula and was in all alone.
Henrik Sedin closed the gap on the power play midway through the second period with a pass from below the goal line that bounced off Dubnyk’s stick and between his legs at 10:17 of the period.
The goal was Henrik’s 10th goal of the year, and his first since Nov. 21.
The Canucks had a golden opportunity a few moments later to tie the game on the power play but it ended early with a penalty to center Bo Horvat, and Coyle scored on the ensuing power play when his centering pass bounced in off Tanev.
With 3:12 left in the game the Wild put it away for good when Niederreiter scored off a rebound for 10th of the year.
In the loss Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves.
Overall the Canucks have just two wins in their last eight games and sit six points out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the west.
Up next: The Canucks host the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Arena Thursday night.
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