ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- They faced the same opponent in the same

arena two nights earlier, but the recharged Vancouver Canucks

skated like a completely different team.

AP Photo/Jim Mone

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Richard Park had the go-ahead goal and two assists against his

old team, leading the Canucks past the Minnesota Wild 5-3 on

Friday.

"Playing a top team, you've got to be on your toes," said Wild

coach Jacques Lemaire, who watched his team dismantle Vancouver 6-0

on Wednesday. "They don't go on a road trip and lose two games in

a row."

Markus Naslund, Anson Carter and Ryan Kesler also scored for the

Canucks, who outshot Minnesota 41-13 and came back with a spirited

effort after that sluggish, lopsided loss.

"We have to play the same way whether we're pushing or

protecting," coach Marc Crawford said. "The guys did a pretty

good job at keeping their composure."

On an assist from new linemate Naslund, Park fired an

uncontested wrist shot from the back of the left circle that got

past goalie Dwayne Roloson early in the third period.

Roloson expected his ex-teammate to pass.

"He schooled me on it," said Roloson, who made 36 saves. "All

those years of practice and he got me."

Park, an unrestricted free agent who signed with Vancouver in

August after three solid seasons with the Wild, downplayed the

benefit of the line shuffle that moved him up to play with Naslund

and Brendan Morrison. Struggling All-Star Todd Bertuzzi was bumped

back to skate with Ryan Kesler and Matt Cooke.

"I think, more than anything, it was just to take some pressure

off Bert," Park said. "Now that he got that first one, I think

you're going to see the old Todd."

Bertuzzi's resurgence seemed to mirror his team's. After Roloson

was pulled with one minute left, he found a wayward puck, broke

free and scored into the empty net for his first goal of the

season.

"I was really happy for Todd," Park said. "He's come under a

lot of scrutiny, and no one can put themselves in his shoes."

The Canucks held a 13-1 shots advantage in the first period and

hung on during an active second period while the Wild came to life

a bit -- scoring three times. After Wes Walz's backhander tied it at

1, Pierre-Marc Bouchard chipped in a power-play goal midway through

the period.

Minnesota's defense went soft for a while, letting Naslund score

on a wraparound and Kesler score on a breakaway to give the Canucks

a 3-2 lead. With 45 seconds left before the intermission, though,

Brian Rolston sent a power-play slap shot into the back of the net

to tie it again.

Though the regular season is barely one week old, the Wild

brought the NHL's best penalty kill (26-for-27) into the game.

Vancouver quickly took them down a notch, taking a 1-0 lead early

in the first on Carter's unassisted score with a one-man advantage.

Willie Mitchell tried to clear the rebound of Carter's first

shot but didn't get a clean hit on the puck -- allowing Carter to

snag it and score.

Lemaire insisted he was pleased by the effort, though he didn't

like seeing his normally speedy team skate with heavy legs. Perhaps

that was one reason why the Canucks controlled the puck throughout

the game and covered the ice as well as they could.

"At the beginning of the game, we were watching them skate,"

Rolston said. "We did not take our game to them. They took their

game to us. ... It's promising that the games we haven't played

well in we're one goal away from, but if we want to win hockey

games we've got to take it to the other team."Game notes
Minnesota C Todd White was scratched because of a thigh

bruise. ... Bertuzzi, reinstated by the NHL this season after a

suspension stemming from his much-maligned hit on Colorado's Steve

Moore, has only one assist in five games. ... The Wild, who entered

the game with the league's second-best power play, went 2-for-3 and

are now 8-for-22.