VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks did not let the Minnesota Wild complete this comeback.
Todd Bertuzzi scored twice as the Canucks built a four-goal lead and held on for a 4-3 victory over the Wild in a rematch of the Western Conference semifinals.
Last May, Minnesota stormed back from a three games to one deficit, taking Game Seven here at GM Place to advance to the conference finals. In the second meeting this season, Vancouver had a big enough lead to remain one of two unbeaten home teams in the NHL.
"We let them come back and that's not the way we play, especially at home," Bertuzzi said. "But two points is two points. We are normally a strong third-period team and our third-period performance was unacceptable."
Bertuzzi started the scoring 11:49 into the game, triggering a three-goal first period that he capped with three seconds to go. Matt Cooke's acrobatic tally made it 4-0 midway through the second.
"The four goals came quickly and maybe we thought it was going to be an easy night," Canucks captain Markus Naslund said. "But obviously, it wasn't."
Former holdouts Pascal Dupuis and Marian Gaborik scored 48 seconds apart late in the period to get the Wild going and Alexandre Daigle made it a one-goal game with 5:43 left in the third.
"We came back and played a strong game," said Gaborik, who notched his first goal of the season. "Some bounces went our way."
The Canucks hung on behind Dan Cloutier, who made 11 of his 29 saves in the third period and bounced back from Thursday's 3-2 loss at St. Louis.
"We played outstanding in the first half of the game. But give them credit, they didn't give up," Cloutier said. "They played right to the end. It was close and it's a good rivalry."
Dwayne Roloson replaced Manny Fernandez to start the second period and stopped 18 of 19 shots for Minnesota, which had a five-game unbeaten streak snapped. The Wild host Vancouver on Tuesday in the second half of the home-and-home series.
"We changed the goalie to add a bit of life to our team," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "Fernandez played well but would have liked to have one back. ... We just needed a change."
The one Fernandez probably wants back is the Canucks' first goal. Bertuzzi stripped the goalie of the puck behind the net, moved in front and slid in a backhander at 11:49 of the first period.
Just under two minutes later, Jason King doubled Vancouver's advantage with his eighth goal, which leads all NHL rookies.
Bertuzzi made it four goals in as many games in the final seconds of the period when he got the blade of his stick on defenseman Ed Jovanovski's shot and tipped it past Fernandez.
Cloutier stopped Gaborik on a breakaway with 14 1/2 minutes to go in the second, six minutes before Cooke gave the Canucks a 4-0 cushion. With his back to the net, Cooke got a deflected pass from Jarkko Ruutu and got off a backhander while falling that slid past Roloson.
Dupuis started Minnesota's comeback at 14:54, converting on his second swipe of a rebound in the low slot. Moments later, Gaborik pulled up at the top of the right faceoff circle and let go a wrist shot that tipped off Cloutier's glove and dribbled into the net.
With just under six minutes left in the third period, Daigle shot over the net on a partial breakaway. But he tracked down the puck on the left boards and ended up getting a pass from Jim Dowd before one-timing a shot from the top of the left circle over Cloutier's right arm.
"We got down but didn't give up," Wild left wing Andrew Brunette said. "We came back and had a couple of bounces go our way but came up short. We expect the same sort of game on Tuesday night."
