The Vancouver Canucks ran into an old friend Thursday night – and his new team came out on top.
On Dec. 12, the Canucks traded captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild for centre Marco Rossi, defenceman Zeev Buium, left winger Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round draft pick. Thursday was the first time the teams faced each other since the trade.
Hughes had an assist and was a plus-4, helping the Wild to a 5-2 win over the visiting Canucks in NHL action at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman each scored twice for the winners (42-21-12), with Kiril Kaprizov adding a single. Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves for the goaltending win. Tom Willander and Jake DeBrusk replied for Vancouver (22-45-8). Nikita Tolopilo took the loss in goal, stopping 32 of 36 shots.
Boldy opened the scoring 8:32 into the first period, grabbing a loose puck after a failed Vancouver clearing attempt and beating Tolopilo from the bottom of the left offensive faceoff circle. Boldy now has 39 goals on the year.
Vancouver answered at the 16-minute mark when Willander snuck in from the right point and slotted home a rebound off the back boards and past Gustavsson. It was the fifth goal of the season for the young Vancouver defenceman.
Back-to-back games of DeBrusk power play goals.
pic.twitter.com/K8Kfcn6JuQ
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) April 3, 2026
DeBrusk gave the Canucks the lead at 2-1 on the power play just 42 seconds later. After some nice puck movement by the Canucks, DeBrusk batted home a rebound of a Filip Hronek point shot for his 18th of the season – 15 of them with the man advantage.
Shots after one period favoured Minnesota, 15-14.
Boldy sprung free for a breakaway and scored his 40th of the year just 23 seconds into the second period to make it 2-2.
The Wild took the lead at 6:06 after another Vancouver turnover in their own zone. Kaprizov converted a feed from Mats Zuccarello to join Boldy at the 40-goal plateau.
Minnesota outshot Vancouver 11-5 in the middle period.
Hartman, outduelling Willander in front of Tolopilo, tipped in his 19th of the year at 6:03 of the third to make it 4-2. Hughes picked up his 67th assist of the year on the play.
With Tolopilo on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, Hartman lobbed a long shot from his own zone that found the empty net to seal the win with 68 seconds to play.
NOTES: The Canucks were coming off a frenzied 8-6 April Fool’s Day win over the league-leading Colorado Avalanche. Brock Boeser had a hat trick for the winners… “A lot of the guys I was there with for the meat of my six years aren’t there,” Hughes told reporters before the game… The last-place overall Canucks have officially secured the best lottery odds for the 2026 NHL draft.
<!– oUFuJ –>