The Vancouver Canucks will aim for back-to-back wins at the start of their longest homestand of the season when they welcome the surging Minnesota Wild for a Northwest Division battle at General Motors Place.
The Canucks ended a two-game slide when they began an epic eight-game homestand with Thursday's 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. All told, it was the third win in five games for Vancouver this month.
The Wild, meanwhile, have won two straight and seven of their last eight games. Head coach Todd Richards' club was in action Friday against the Flames and earned a rare win in Calgary.
Martin Havlat's overtime winner with 1:45 left in the extra session led Minnesota to a 2-1 win over Calgary for the Wild's first win at Pengrowth Saddledome in over two years.
Vancouver has an 11-4-0 record as the host this year and will continue its residency Monday night against Los Angeles. The Wild, who are completing a four-game road trip tonight, are just 6-10-2 as the visiting team this year, but have won four of their last five as the guest.
The Canucks have beaten Minnesota twice this season, giving them four straight victories in the series. Vancouver has also taken seven of the last eight meetings overall, while the Wild have dropped two in a row and three of their last four in British Columbia.
