VANCOUVER, BC — Matt Dumba scored his first goal of the season midway through the third period, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over Vancouver on Tuesday night and spoiling the Canucks' home opener.
Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild. Cam Talbot made 22 saves for Minnesota, which now sits at 5-1, good for second in the NHL's central division of the Western Conference. The Wild is now a perfect 3-0 on the road this season.
Alex Chiasson scored on a power play, and Bo Horvat added a goal for the Canucks, who had a two-game win streak halted. Thatcher Demko stopped 27 shots.
Vancouver’s home opener was the first game with full capacity at Rogers Arena in 595 days.
Wild goaltender Cam Talbot is now 5-0-0 for the first time in his NHL career after making 22 saves on 24 shots, including an amazing stonewall against high-scoring Burnsville native Brock Boeser.
The game also marked a significant first for Minnesota: It was the first time the club had scored first and beaten an opponent to the punch. The Wild were forced to come back in their first four games of the season to notch victories, before stumbling Sunday against Nashville. In fact, the Wild was actually up on the Canucks 2-0 before the home club mounted a comeback of their own.
"First time this year. We want to do that more often. It's not the greatest recipe always chasing," Dumba told NHL.com. "We talked about that before in the locker room, so hopefully we have that all situated."
The Wild continue their western swing Thursday night against the expansion Seattle Kraken.