Sedin twins carry Canucks past Wild

Both Sedin brothers assisted on Alex Burrows' first-period goal.THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER -- Henrik Sedin continued his torrid scoring pace on Saturday with three assists to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Sedin set up brother Daniel Sedin, Mason Raymond and Alex Burrows in the first period, and Ryan Kesler scored in the third tally as the Canucks (18-14-0) improved to 2-0 on their season-high eight-game homestand.

Shane Hnidy, Greg Zanon and Martin Havlat replied for Minnesota (15-14-3), which had won seven of its past eight contests, including an emotional 2-1 overtime victory in Calgary on Friday.

Coming off a disappointing road trip that saw the Canucks finish 2-2-0 despite winning the first two games, Vancouver held a players-only meeting on Thursday morning with the message that the time to move up the Western Conference standings and into a playoff position is now.

The team responded with a 4-2 victory over Atlanta later that night, and followed it up with another solid performance against the Wild on Saturday, in large part thanks to the play of the Sedin twins and linemate Burrows.

Daniel Sedin got things started on a Canucks power play 1:44 into the first, taking a neat feed from Henrik Sedin, faking a cross-ice pass and coolly lifting a wrist shot over goalie Josh Harding's left shoulder.

Henrik Sedin made another highlight-reel pass about five minutes later, dishing a behind-the-back feed out front to Raymond, who slipped the puck past Harding on another Canucks power play for a 2-0 lead.