The Canucks limped their way out of the gate, looking every bit the awful team the score would later indicate. They were slow and failed to generate much in the way of an offensive zone presence, let alone threaten the Wild. Caught skating in sand, the Canucks would get caught in transition with Ben Hutton getting dinged for the hold on Charlie Coyle.

Minnesota wasted no time capitalizing on the opportunity, scoring on a Vanek deflection at the side of the net. Frankly, the fault of that goal lies entirely with Chris Tanev, who all but lost track of Vanek on the play. Miller never stood a chance and the busted coverage left him aghast in the wake of it.

Not long after the opening mark (seven minutes) the Wild would pot a second goal in the opening frame, this time courtesy a Jason Zucker backhand in the slot. Vanek was awarded the second assist on this goal, giving him his second point on the night. Perhaps the worst part about this goal is that he takes not one, but two backhanded swings at the puck in the slot untouched.

From that point forward, the Canucks went into full on cruise control. They would surrender four goals in the second period alone, sending just one the opposite direction on a Jannik Hansen play in front. Perhaps worst of all was the fact that Miller was made to stay in net, right to the end of the second. By that point, the Wild had built an insurmountable 6-1 lead and thoroughly embarrassed the Canucks netminder in the process.

Somewhere therein, there was an incident where Derek Dorsett and Nate Prosser got into it. Dorsett tried to send some messages or something, but Prosser was less inclined. The Canucks face puncher dropped his mitts, but was left without a dance partner and they both served a penalty for their troubles. This incident later boiled over towards the end of the game, when Dorsett threw a pretty dirty hit in the numbers. Then they fought for realzies. Anyways, totally not embarrassing. Great to have things like this in the game.