Wild jump out to lead, defeat Canucks

Brad Hunt and Kevin Fiala each scored and assisted on the other's tally in Minnesota's three-goal, first-period outburst Thursday night, fueling the Wild's 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in St. Paul, Minn. Hunt's goal set the offensive tone early for the Wild, who moved to 16-7-4 on home ice. The defenseman later fed Fiala for his third goal in two games for a 3-0 Wild lead.

Ryan Hartman and Zach Parise also tallied for the Wild, who won for the fifth time in seven games, and Alex Stalock registered 24 saves to claim his career-high 13th victory. A St. Paul native, Stalock produced 12 wins twice -- last season with the Wild and in 2013-14 with the San Jose Sharks.

J.T. Miller notched his 21st goal, Antoine Roussel scored and Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots and posted his first assist of the season. Defenseman Christopher Tanev played in his 500th game. Vancouver lost its third straight and finished 2-2-1 on its five-game road trip.

The Canucks played without Elias Pettersson, last year's Calder Trophy winner as the league's top rookie, due to a lower-body injury suffered against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. The 21-year-old All-Star suited up and took pregame line rushes Thursday with his teammates, but the late, hard hit he took from Matt Grzelcyk in Boston scratched him from the starting lineup.

The Wild made it tough on Markstrom in the opening 20 minutes as they found the net on three of their 13 shots on the All-Star goalie. Hunt started the scoring when his floater from above the right circle beat the Swedish backstop at 6:01. The lead grew to 2-0 when Markstrom's weak pass behind his net was intercepted by Mikko Koivu and sent to Hartman, who backhanded home his seventh at 10:39.

Fiala completed the big first period on the Wild's second power play after taking a pass from Hunt and finishing with a quick toe-drag and wrister at 16:20 for his 12th marker. Blanked 4-0 in Boston, Vancouver broke its scoreless streak when Miller sliced through the neutral zone and the Minnesota defense. The forward, on pace for his best season ever, then beat Stalock on the far post at 10:33 on the power play. It was Miller's 23rd point (eight goals, 15 assists) in his last 20 games.

Parise collected his team-leading 10th power-play goal and 20th overall in the third, and Roussel netted on a rebound with 1:31 left for the final score. 

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