The Minnesota Wild gained some breathing room in the Northwest Division Monday night with a win north of the border.

The Minnesota Wild defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 last night at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. The win gives the Wild a 2 point lead over the Canucks for first place in the Northwest Division.

After a scoreless first period, Henrik Sedin snapped a skid of eleven straight games without a power play goal for the Canucks with his eighth of the year at 10:18 of the second.

Jonas Brodin answered for the Wild with a power play goal at 15:06 to send the teams into the second intermission tied at one.

Charlie Coyle and Matt Cullen scored in the third period to send the Wild to victory. Goalie Niklas Backstrom recovered from a shaky effort on Saturday to make 35 saves and earn the win.

The Wild are at Detroit Wednesday night.

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