VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Wes Walz scored with 4:16 remaining Saturday night to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Antti Laaksonen won a battle for the puck along the right boards, passed through the legs of Canucks left wing Jan Hlavac to Walz, who deked defenseman Mattias Ohlund before putting a one-handed backhander between goaltender Dan Cloutier's pads.
It was Walz's sixth goal of the season and third go-ahead tally against Vancouver in the last two years.
Sergei Zholtok scored on the power play and Manny Fernandez made 28 saves for the Wild, who have won consecutive road games for just the second time in team history. They also claimed back-to-back wins away from home last January 24-27.
Henrik Sedin tied it at 7:21 of the second period, but Vancouver suffered its third straight loss.
