Hughes, who was booed every time he touched the puck but received a mix of cheers during a first period video tribute, scored on the power play at 12:55 of the second period to put the Wild ahead 3-0. He passed into the low slot to Joel Eriksson Ek from behind the net, then skated around to the other side to put the rebound into an open net for his 500th point in his 520th game, making him the second fastest American defenseman after Brian Leetch (496 games) to reach the milestone. He added an assist in the third period to make it 501 points (69 goals, 432 assists).
Maxim Shabanov and Kirill Kaprizov also each had a goal and an assist and Calvin Pickard made 16 saves for his first win with the Wild (8-3-2), who were playing back to back after a 5-1 win at the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. They’re 6-2-1 in their past nine games.
Max Sasson and Brock Boeser scored in the third period for the Canucks (2-10-1), who have lost 10 straight (0-9-1). Leevi Merilainen made 30 saves.
Vancouver outshot the Wild 10-5 in the first period but trailed 1-0 after Shabanov converted a cross-crease feed from Kaprizov on the power play at 18:33, tucking the puck just inside the post before Merilainen could get his right pad across.
Brink scored his first goal of the season to put Minnesota ahead 2-0 at 5:54 of the second period, taking advantage of a turnover inside the blue line and a breakaway pass from Michael McCarron to the right face-off dot. He faked Merilainen to the ice above his crease, deked around him and tucked the puck in behind the Canucks goalie.
Hughes made it 3-0 in his first game back in Vancouver since being traded to the Wild on Dec. 12, 2025 for forwards Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi, defenseman Zeev Buium and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft used to select Adam Novotny at No. 24.
Hughes, who was selected by the Canucks with the No. 7 pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, sent Kaprizov in alone with a breakaway pass that he finished with a deke to make it 4-0 at 3:38 of the third period.
Sasson scored on a breakaway shot between Pickard’s pads at 6:24 to make it 4-1 and Boeser scored on a one-timer from the high slot at 16:53 for the 4-2 final.
