The Minnesota Wild fell below .500 with a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Xcel Energy Center Thursday night in front of 18,352 fans.

Vancouver (6-2-2) scored two goals in each of the first two periods for a 4-0 lead that held up until Tom Gilbert scored for the Wild (4-5-1) at 7:25 of the third.

Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom was pulled after two periods. Josh Harding made saves on all six shots he faced in third period relief duty.

The Wild take on Nashville Saturday at the X.

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