ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Standing 10th in the Western Conference,

the Minnesota Wild are desperate for wins and points.

On Thursday night, they finally played like it.

Marc Chouinard scored two goals to lead an offensive outburst as

the Wild routed the Vancouver Canucks 6-2.

Marian Gaborik, Andrew Brunette and Antti Laaksonen each had a

goal and an assist, and Alex Henry had the first goal of his NHL

career for the Wild, who got 26 saves from Dwayne Roloson.

Laaksonen scored on a penalty shot in the first period.

"Probably the most intense game this hockey team has played,"

Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said.

The Canucks outshot the Wild 28-22, but Minnesota had the better

scoring chances. The Wild scored three times in both the first and

second periods against the Canucks, who have lost four of five

games.

"It was a bad performance by us," Canucks coach Marc Crawford

said. "We've got no excuses and we will all take the

responsibility for it. ... We have to be concerned with how we

played tonight."

Vancouver goaltender Dan Cloutier, coming off a shutout at

Colorado, gave up four goals on 10 shots before being replaced by

Johan Hedberg in the second period. Todd Bertuzzi and Mattias

Ohlund scored for the Canucks, who are without the injured Markus

Naslund.

"We didn't play with any emotion," Crawford said. "We didn't

play with any type of enthusiasm. If there's any consolation, it's

that it was all the way through the lineup. The only solace is that

it was a total team misperformance."

Minnesota, pushing for the final playoff spot in the West, has

scored 10 goals in its last two games.

"We don't have too many games left and we're still out of the

playoff spot," said Chouinard, who had his first-career two-goal

game. "This was sort of desperation for the team. Guys that have

been there before want to go there again."

Chouinard gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead off a pretty pass from

Andrei Zyuzin at 3:56 of the first period.

The Wild started gaining steam on Laaksonen's penalty shot with

5:05 left in the period. With Vancouver on a power play, Laaksonen

got the puck in the neutral zone and streaked toward the net, but

was dragged down from behind by Mike Keane.

On the penalty shot, Laaksonen deked left, brought the puck back

right and backhanded it over Cloutier's pads, drawing a loud

ovation.

Less than five minutes later, Brunette made it 3-0 on a

wraparound.

"We needed a good game, especially at home," Brunette said.

"We haven't played very well at home. ... Actually, we've played

terrible at home. So to come in here and play like this against a

top team, especially Vancouver, makes it sweet."

The Wild improved to 13-12-6-1 at home.

Bertuzzi's power-play goal at 1:37 of the second pulled the

Canucks to 3-1.

But Chouinard answered with his second goal. He tipped in a

backhanded pass from Alexandre Daigle to give the Wild a 4-1 lead

and send Cloutier to the bench.

Two nights after scoring three times at New Jersey, Gaborik

assisted on Henry's goal at 7:43 of the second, then added an

impressive score of his own for just his 10th goal of the season.

After taking a long pass from Laaksonen, Gaborik fought off

Brent Sopel and backhanded a shot from just below the right circle

into the upper left corner. Lemaire said Gaborik played with more

confidence after his hat trick against the Devils.

"Now you can see that he wants the puck more," the coach

said.Game notes
The all-time series between the teams is tied 8-8-4. ...

Wild LW Matt Johnson received a match penalty for slashing Canucks

C Matt Cooke, who was assessed a 10-minute misconduct for roughing

in the fray. Cooke and Johnson, two old rivals from last year's

playoffs, argued most of the night, but Johnson became angry after

Cooke speared him. ... Just like they did at the All-Star game

earlier this month, the Minnesota crowd booed Bertuzzi -- another

hated foe from last year's second-round playoff series -- every time

he touched the puck.