Bertuzzi Gets Canucks Off to a Wild Start

It only took a little more than a minute for the Vancouver Canucks to put away the Minnesota Wild.

Todd Bertuzzi scored the first of three goals in a 1:08 span of the first period and the Canucks defeated the Wild, 4-2, Saturday night at St. Paul, Minn.

Bertuzzi had two assists to help the Canucks hand the Wild its second loss in 12 games this season. The defeat ended a six-game unbeaten streak for Minnesota, which is tied with Philadelphia for the most points in the league, each with 18.

“We stuck to our game plan,” Bertuzzi said. “Instead of sitting around and not doing anything about it, we went right out and got one.”

Marion Gaborik opened the scoring with his seventh goal 8:04 in, and the game had the feel of another Wild victory.

“You have to be careful when a team gets [the first] goal,” Minnesota Coach Jacques Lemaire said. “The line that takes over at that point needs to keep the pressure on and play in their end. It didn’t work out that way.”

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Pittsburgh 5, Tampa Bay 3 -- Mario Lemieux scored one goal and set up three others, and Kent Manderville broke a tie with 3:30 to play at Pittsburgh.

Alexei Kovalev scored two power-play goals for Pittsburgh to extend his scoring streak to 10 games and give him 10 goals in the last eight games.

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Montreal 5, Toronto 2 -- Oleg Petrov and Richard Zednik each scored twice to lead the Canadiens to their first victory at Toronto’s Air Canada Center.

Jeff Hackett made 30 saves for the Canadiens, who last won in Toronto on Dec. 26, 1998, the final game between the Original Six rivals at Maple Leaf Gardens.

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St. Louis 6, New York Islanders 1 -- Scott Mellanby and Cory Stillman each had a goal and an assist at Uniondale, N.Y., and the Blues won their seventh consecutive game, spoiling the return of Islander captain Michael Peca.

Peca played for the first time since tearing a knee ligament April 26.

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Colorado 4, Calgary 4 -- Martin Gelinas scored twice, including the tying goal, to give Colorado a tie at Calgary, Canada.

A harmless-looking wrist shot from the blue line by Calgary defenseman Robyn Regehr was going wide of the net when Gelinas stuck out his stick and deflected the puck past Patrick Roy.

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Boston 3, New York Rangers 2 -- Brian Berard scored on a deflected shot with 38.8 seconds to play at Boston, where the Bruins rallied from a two-goal deficit.

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Ottawa 5, Detroit 2 -- Patrick Lalime made 20 saves at Ottawa and the Senators ended a four-game skid.

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Philadelphia 2, Washington 1 -- Dennis Seidenberg and Keith Primeau scored at Philadelphia, leading the Flyers to their fifth consecutive victory.

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New Jersey 5, Chicago 1 -- Jamie Langenbrunner got the Devils going with a goal 10 seconds into the game at East Rutherford, N.J., and scored another goal later in the period.

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Atlanta 3, Florida 1 -- Frantisek Kaberle and Tony Hrkac scored third-period goals at Sunrise, Fla., to help the Thrashers end a 19-game winless streak.