Takeaways: Wild stumble at last-place Vancouver for second loss in a row

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 7, 2025

Published in Hockey

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Minnesota Wild are on a new streak, but it’s not the kind they’re used to having.

They fumbled an early lead against the last-place Vancouver Canucks, who rallied 4-2 on Saturday night at Rogers Arena to give the Wild back-to-back regulation losses for the first time since Oct. 22-25.

Jesper Wallstedt had his seven-game win streak ended, the goalie making 16 stops in his first regulation loss of the season after Wallstedt started 8-0-2.

Fellow rookie (and the third netminder on the Vancouver depth chart) Nikita Tolopilo was steady in only his fifth career game, racking up 27 saves.

Actually, the Canucks were led by their youth during their three-goal, second-period takeover.

After Matt Boldy scored for the Wild in the first, Vancouver responded on Tom Willander’s first NHL goal, Elias Pettersson’s first of the season and Aatu Raty’s second of the night but first that counted; his earlier finish was overturned because he kicked the puck into the net.

Raty would get another goal in the third before Mats Zuccarello converted on a late power play.

Since their seven-game win streak ended last Saturday to Buffalo, the Wild have one victory in four games.

Their 12-game point streak expired Thursday at Calgary with a 4-1 defeat.

This outcome wasn’t indicative of how the Wild started.

Only a minute in, Wallstedt was whistled for a rare goalie penalty, as he was called for tripping Filip Hronek after poke-checking the puck away. Not only did the Wild easily survive the Canucks power play, but they capitalized soon after they were back to full strength: Zuccarello served the penalty for Wallstedt and after he left the box, he passed to Boldy for a one-timer at 3 minutes, 11 seconds off a 2-on-1 break put in motion by Yakov Trenin.

Boldy is up to 16 goals, and Zuccarello’s assist moved him past Pierre-Marc Bouchard for the fourth most in Wild history with 242.

But the Wild didn’t stay in control in the second period.

After a close call 7 minutes in — video review determined the cross-zone pass that banked in off Raty’s left skate was the result of a distinct kicking motion — Vancouver left no room for doubt in its rebuttal.

At 9:29, Willander went top-shelf through traffic to net his first goal, which was the first goal Wallstedt allowed on the Wild’s road trip since he was coming off a 33-save, 1-0 shutout at Edmonton on Tuesday.

Next up was Pettersson, who connected on a point shot after a faceoff win at 11:46.

Then Raty made this goal stick, wiring in a puck off a 2-on-1 break for the Canucks with 4:48 to go in the second period.

Raty added another 5:09 into the third when he picked the puck off Wallstedt behind the net and backhanded it through the vacant crease.

Vancouver went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Wild finished 1-for-3 after Zuccarello slung in a shot from inside the left faceoff circle with 2:38 remaining and Wallstedt pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage.

The Wild, who had rookie center Danila Yurov back after he missed two games because of injury, haven’t scored more than two goals in five consecutive games.

As lackluster as the Wild’s performance against the Flames was, this showing was worse.

The Canucks were at the bottom of the standings, had dropped four in a row and played the previous night. What’s more, their best forward Elias Pettersson (not to be confused with the defenseman with the same name who scored) was a late scratch because of an injury.

But the matchups that should suit the Wild haven’t lately, a trend that could make finishing this trip a challenge.

The Wild will be back stateside for their road trip finale Monday in Seattle against the Kraken.