Minnesota run Wild on Canucks

The Minnesota Wild got the best of Olympic goaltender Roberto Luongo for a second successive meeting by pouring on five goals in a 6-2 victory over Vancouver.

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The Minnesota Wild got the best of Olympic goaltender Roberto Luongo for a second successive meeting by pouring on five goals in a 6-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. Guillaume Latendresse notched his 20th goal of the season in the first period, Kyle Brodziak and Marek Zidlicky scored in the second as Minnesota took a 3-0 lead en route to ending a two-game slide.

Andrew Brunette and Cal Clutterbuck both added power play goals in the third where Cam Barker also scored. Vancouver's Mason Raymond netted a slap shot at 4:02 in the third that made it 3-1, and, following two Minnesota goals, Mikael Samuelsson added the final score for the visitors with 10:21 to play. "If teams want to take liberties and unnecessary penalties and retaliatory penalties, that's where your power play has got to step up," said Todd Richards, the Wild coach.

For the Canucks (37-22-2), it was the eighth contest of their record 14-game away trip brought on by the Winter Olympics occupying their home. The loss kept the Canucks tied with the Colorado Avalanche atop the Northwest Division. "You could see that we weren't really ready to play," said defenceman Sami Salo. "They made some good plays." Luongo, who will represent Canada in the Winter Olympics, was replaced in the third period after also coming off during a loss to the Wild last month.

Luongo had been playing well and was coming off a shutout against the Florida Panthers on Thursday. * With agencies