Fri Mar 28 23:14:06 2008

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Backstrom blanks Canucks; Wild pad division lead

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St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Niklas Backstrom made 28 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season and ninth of his career, as the Minnesota Wild blanked the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0, at Xcel Energy Center.

Backstrom picked up his 31st win of the season, breaking the franchise mark set by Manny Fernandez in 2005-06.

Mikko Koivu registered a goal and an assist and Marian Gaborik added two helpers for the Wild, who have won two straight and increased their lead to three points over idle Calgary for first place in the Northwest Division.

Roberto Luongo allowed four goals on 21 shots before he was lifted for the second consecutive game in favor of Curtis Sanford, who finished with nine saves for Vancouver. The Canucks have dropped four straight and are now tied with Nashville -- which defeated Columbus, 2-0, on Friday -- for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 11:37 mark of the first period. As Aaron Voros planted his large frame in front of Luongo, Bouchard rifled a slap shot from the top of the right circle over the glove of the screened netminder.

Koivu found the twine behind Luongo with 2:39 remaining in the first. Brian Rolston worked the puck down low to Koivu, who stickhandled around Vancouver's Willie Mitchell at the right side of the goal and buried the disc in the back of the net.

While up a man, Brent Burns extended the Wild lead to 3-0 when his one-timer flew by the blocker of Luongo at the 8:28 mark of the middle stanza.

Todd Fedoruk made it 4-0 with 6:32 remaining in the second period. Gaborik glided down the right wing, carried the puck across the blue line and sent a perfect saucer pass that Fedoruk hammered home.

Game Notes

Koivu appeared in the 200th game of his NHL career...Minnesota has won four in a row at home, tying a season high set from October 4-21...The Wild host Colorado on Sunday...Vancouver finished the season with a 18-18-5 road record. The Canucks close the 2007-08 campaign with four straight games at home...Minnesota won the season series (5-2-1).