Feisty Wild surge past slumping Canucks

The Minnesota Wild cocked their fists, flexed their muscles and fired away on the power play, surging past the slumping Vancouver Canucks 4-0 on Friday night.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brent Burns scored with the man advantage for the Wild, sending the Canucks to their fourth straight loss and a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference with Nashville.

Roberto Luongo was pulled for the second straight game, after giving up two goals in each of the first two periods. Bouchard scored for the first time in six weeks to set the tone in another critical Northwest Division game. Minnesota stretched its lead to three points over the Calgary Flames.

Niklas Backstrom posted his fourth shutout of the season and set a franchise record with 31 victories.

Missing center and alternate captain Brendan Morrison, whose sustained a season-ending knee injury Wednesday in Colorado, the Canucks were overwhelmed.

Luongo, who came from Florida on an early-morning flight after his wife gave birth to their first child, has given up nine goals in two games — in a total of 45 minutes. Luongo entered the night ranked fourth in the NHL with a .921 save percentage.

The Wild, who host Colorado on Sunday and the Flames on Thursday, were sharp from start to finish. They took advantage of a flurry of turnovers by the Canucks and put pressure on with a strong power play.

Bouchard's slap shot squeezed past a screening Aaron Voros and soared high over Luongo's stick midway through the first period, and an unmarked Burns scored on a blistering slap shot from the crease to make it 3-0 halfway through the middle frame.

Just 8 seconds after a power play expired, Mikko Koivu made a nifty move from behind the end line to fake former teammate Willie Mitchell and poke the puck past Luongo for the second goal. The puck was in the Canucks zone for the entire advantage.

Todd Fedoruk, one of the tough guys the Wild are hoping can give them some more tenacity for the playoffs, scored off of Marian Gaborik's 40th assist to make it 4-0 later in the second period. That prompted the hook for Luongo, in favor of Curtis Sanford.

Notes:@ Wild D Kurtis Foster, who broke his left leg last week, flew back to the Twin Cities to continue his hospital stay and physical therapy. There is no timetable for his discharge, but the team wanted its physician to be able to evaluate him. ... In the previous 10 games, Vancouver killed 39 of 44 penalties — 88.6 percent. ... Colton Gillies, Minnesota's most recent first-round draft pick, signed a multiyear contract with the club that begins next season. The 19-year-old center has been playing at the junior level with Saskatoon in the WHL. He'll finish the season in the AHL.