Canucks lose to Wild in shootout in Toffoli debut

VANCOUVER -- The Minnesota Wild got their first win under new coach Dean Evason, spoiling the debut of Vancouver Canucks forward Tyler Toffoli with a 4-3 shootout victory at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Alex Galchenyuk scored his first goal with the Wild to tie it 3-3 with 4:45 left in the third period and scored the deciding goal with a deke in the fifth round of the shootout.
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Canucks highlights]
Evason, who took over for the fired Bruce Boudreau on Friday but lost his debut Saturday, 2-0 to the San Jose Sharks, couldn't bring himself to watch Galchenyuk's attempt. He knew he had his first NHL win as a coach when he saw the reaction of his three children, who were in the stands.
Evason's son is with the Wild for their dads trip, and his two daughters joined him for this game.
"I didn't watch, I watched, didn't watch the shootout, and then the last one, I knew where the kids were with all the dads and mentors and I just looked up at my three kids and watched their reaction and all three of them jumped up in the air so I knew we scored," Evason said. "Pretty cool. It's amazing. You hear things happen for a reason and to have my three children here was awesome."
Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves in his first start in four games for the Wild (28-24-7), who trail the Calgary Flames and the Arizona Coyotes by five points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"These are the kind of games you can really build off," Dubnyk said. "Obviously, being up a goal going into the third, we'd like to finish it that way, but it doesn't matter one way or the other. When you battle to tie it up and then win it like that it can be a boost for us. It was definitely a good feeling."

Toffoli, who was traded to the Canucks by the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, had an assist, setting up the first of two goals by J.T. Miller to tie the game 2-2 at 1:28 of the third period. Miller made it 3-2 at 4:43.
"We made some really nice plays, especially early on, and obviously later on a couple of big goals," Toffili said of his new line with Miller and Elias Pettersson. "At the same time, the more we work together the better we're going to feel and make those little plays more often."
Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves for the Canucks (32-22-6), who are 2-4-2 in their past eight games. Vancouver is tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Edmonton Oilers.
"We played well enough to win; just a couple of bad bounces," Toffoli said.
Kevin Fiala gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 1:03 of the first period with a shot over Markstrom's left shoulder.
Jay Beagle tied it 1-1 with his first goal in 43 games at 1:31 of the second period on a 2-on-1 pass from Quinn Hughes.
"Made a great pass, slid it under him," Beagle said. "Got to bury that."
Luke Kunin put the Wild ahead 2-1 at 13:03 on a nice pass from Brad Hunt below the goal line.

Miller tied it by deflecting Toffoli's pass through Dubnyk's legs from the high slot and put the Canucks ahead after a cross-ice pass from Troy Stecher.
Galchenyuk, who came to Minnesota as part of a Feb. 10 trade for forward Jason Zucker, got his first point in four games with the Wild on a sharp angle shot that deflected off Stecher.
"The second I got traded here I knew I was going to have a great opportunity and I'm going to work hard and do the best I can to help the team win and I'm happy I contributed," Galchenyuk said.

They said it

"I had a good feeling about that one. He roasted me twice in a row on that move in practice: Lightning-fast backhand and up, so I was so happy to see him over the boards when we had a chance to win it." -- Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk on Alex Galchenyuk's shootout-winning deke
"He's fun to play with. For the first game, I think we're on the same page for the most part. It's going to take time to develop a bit more chemistry and tendencies, but it's a fun first game with him." -- Canucks forward J.T. Miller on new linemate Tyler Toffoli

Need to know

Fiala has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games. … Hughes had two assists and has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his past 13 games. … Canucks forward Tyler Motte had an assist in 14:04 in his first game back after missing eight with an upper-body injury.

What's next

Wild:At the Edmonton Oilers on Friday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-WI, FS-N+, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Boston Bruins on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, CBC, SN, SN360, SN1, CITY, NESN, NHL.TV)