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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks may have been prettier, but the Minnesota Wild were just as effective. Sergei Zholtok scored with 10:22 left in the third period as the Wild rallied from an early two-goal deficit for a 2-2 tie with the Canucks in a battle of the top teams in the Northwest Division. Vancouver appeared set to extend its five-point lead over second-place Minnesota after captain Markus Naslund and defenseman Brent Sopel scored in the opening 7 1/2 minutes. But defenseman Nick Schultz got back a goal before the end of the period and the Wild controlled the tempo over the final 45 minutes. "We didn't play with the same intensity we came out with," Naslund said. "If we would have kept on going the same way, we would have been up 3-0. And that would have been the game there. They were flat at the beginning. Those are the times you have to jump on teams." Zholtok, who had not scored a goal on the road this season, got the equalizer midway through a third period that featured just 13 shots. He got a pass from Antti Laaksonen in the neutral zone, took a couple of strides over the Canucks' blue line and blasted a slap shot that grazed the left goalpost before beating goaltender Dan Cloutier. "I saw the opening with the defenseman in front," Zholtok said. "I got good wood on it. I shot the puck on net, hoping good things would happen." Vancouver had all three shots in overtime but could not get the winner past Dwayne Roloson, who made 20 saves as Minnesota moved to 2-1-1 on a five-game road trip. "It was a rough start for us. I was shaky early, but the guys were able to battle back for me," Roloson said. "I tried to keep the guys in it as much as I could." A highlight reel play by Todd Bertuzzi led to the game's first goal 3:15 into the opening period. He drove down the right side on his backhand, but turned and curled a pass to Naslund, who beat Roloson with a wrist shot for his league-leading 35th goal. Minnesota defenseman Brad Brown took a double-minor for high-sticking less than two minutes later and Vancouver converted on the ensuing power play to make it 2-0. Roloson made a right pad save on a shot by Mattias Ohlund, but fellow defenseman Brent Sopel reached through several players to put in the rebound for his fifth goal. "They scored some nice goals, but we are a team that can't give up," Wild center Cliff Ronning said. "Once we got one goal, we loosened up and we moved the puck around." That goal came with 5:33 to go in the first period as Schultz fired a slap shot from above the right faceoff circle under Cloutier's glove. "We were never off our game," Zholtok said. "They got a good goal from Naslund and a power-play goal, but we continued to battle. It looked like at the end of regulation, both teams were happy with a tie. Both teams wanted to go to overtime." Vancouver was outshot for the first time in 15 games and are 1-1-1 on a four-game homestand. "In the first half of the first period, we played the way we wanted to. But after their goal, we sat back the rest of the game," Sopel said. "We didn't stick to the game plan. We knew what we had to do to get a victory, but we only did that for a little while." |
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