ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild stole a page from the Vancouver Canucks' script.
Sergei Zholtok scored with 5:09 remaining and Dwayne Roloson stopped 29 shots as the Wild blanked the Canucks, 1-0, for their third straight home win.
Vancouver had scored first in all but one of its first 15 games, winning nine of them to move to the top of the Northwest Division. But Minnesota got the first and only goal in the finale of a home-and-home series.
"You need to be careful thinking like that," Canucks center Brendan Morrison said. "It's always tough against these guys because you don't want to take too many chances, because that's when they capitalize. ... When you're playing patient, there aren't as many chances to get that first goal."
Late in the third period, Alexandre Daigle carried into the Canucks' zone and moved the puck to Richard Park. From the right side of the net, Park backhanded a pass to a cutting Zholtok, whose first shot was stopped by goaltender Dan Cloutier.
"It was a great play by Alex coming across the blue line and I just tried to find an opening," Park said.
But Zholtok - mired in a 12-game drought - tracked down the rebound at the side of the net and banked the puck off Cloutier's blocker and into the goal for his first of the season.
"His stick was there, you have to give him a lot of credit," Zholtok said of Cloutier. "On the first move, I was going across and I faked him and he kept his stick there. I'm glad I got him with the rebound."
"Zholtok stuck with it," said Cloutier, who made 23 saves. "Half the guys in this league would have just kept going, and he stuck with it."
Roloson made eight saves in the first period, 12 in the second and nine in the third en route to his second shutout in as many starts. He helped the Wild improve to 5-1-1 in their last seven contests.
"Pretty much, I had a good view of the shots tonight. Our 'D' did a good job of boxing out," Roloson said. "If they did have some rebounds, our 'D' was able to get there to minimize the quality shots that they had."
"I think he is very focused, especially the last five or six games he has played," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said of his goalie. "He was in good position and seeing the puck very well tonight. They were trying to get in front of him all night, but he didn't allow any rebounds."
Scoring chances were at a premium in a first period that featured 17 shots. But Vancouver had 12 in the second and nearly grabbed the lead when Morrison put a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle off the outside of the net.
"(Roloson) played great," Zholtok said. "He kept us in the game. Vancouver is a very good offensive team, but we just tried to play our game. We didn't have many chances, but it was nice to get that goal."
This game lacked the intensity of Saturday's contest in Vancouver, where the teams combined for 62 penalty minutes.
"Sometimes there is so much hype, it never lives up to expectations," Morrison said. "The main focus is the two points, and those guys are smart enough to understand that."
The Canucks entered with a league-leading 53 goals but were shut out for the first time since last season's finale against Los Angeles.
"The last game at home, there was more open ice and some odd-man rushes," Morrison said. "I don't know if we had an odd-man rush out there tonight. It was more defensive."
