Wild hands Vancouver worst shutout loss in 2-plus years, worst loss of season since Nov. 20

You could tell which team needed this one a little more badly than the other tonight.

The Canucks have the best record in the league, are the hottest team in the league and are running away with the division. The Wild, a week after being seventh in the conference, entered the game five points back of 8th in 12th-place.

Big victory, because both Chicago and Anaheim won to get to 54 points, so the Wild moved three points from now-eighth-place Colorado (52 points for the Avs, 49 for the Wild) as it sets to embark on a four-game road trip before the All-Star break. A loss, and the Wild would really be up against it.

What an effort by the Wild, which to me put forth a carbon-copy effort to what it was able to do Friday against Colorado, only this time it got the goals, the special-team play, the saves and the win.

The desperation, sense of urgency, whatever you wanna call it, was visible to the naked eye tonight, and the appreciative crowd was, well, appreciative with ear-splitting roars throughout.

Chuck Kobasew and Brad Staubitz fought, Anton Khudobin, despite dizzyingly spinning around so much he should be sponsored by Dramamine, made 32 saves for his first NHL shutout, Andrew Brunette, Martin Havlat, Matt Cullen and John Madden scored and tons of other players made big plays.

Brent Burns diving in the crease to save a Mikael Samuelsson tying goal in the first. Jared Spurgeon going into the corner for a puck knowing full well Ryan Kesler was going to nail him on the forecheck. Clayton Stoner taking a two-handed slash to the Achilles and not retaliating against Kesler (Kesler may have 24 goals, but a leopard doesn't lose his spots). Just effort and sweat and emotion.

Read all the coverage in the paper for all the details. Jim Souhan was out and wrote an Anton Khudobin column that I'm sure is as entertaining as the fellow himself. The gamer's on the win against the hottest team in the league. The notebook, which leads with Staubitz, is jam-packed with tons of good info.

Niklas Backstrom may start Tuesday in Edmonton, coach Todd Richards said, but if Jose Theodore can't practice Monday or leave with the team on its four-game trip, Khudobin should earn a start in one of those back-to-backs in Alberta. The Wild has no extras right now, so the Wild will likely call up a couple insurance reinforcements.

I'm flying to Edmonton. Kent Youngblood has practice Monday, so he'll be on with all the updates.

Here's some tidbits:

Wild is 4-0 in the past four home games against Vancouver, outscoring the Canucks 21-6 with nine power-play goals.

Matt Cullen is tied for the league lead with three shorthanded goals now, was plus-3, had an assist and his goal was his first since Dec. 23 at Colorado.

Andrew Brunette scored in consecutive games for the first time this season. It was his 53rd power-play goal with Minnesota, six off Marian Gaborik's record.

Minnesota went 4 for 4 against the league's best power play and scored a shorty.

The Canucks are 1-2 against the Wild and 10-0 against the rest of the Northwest. They were 8-1-1 in their past 10 road games.

The first period was so fast, there were no whistles the last 10:09.