Pavol Demitra's return haunts Wild

Look back at Pavol Demitra's career, he loves playing against old comrades.

Demitra proved Thursday night, with friends like him, the Wild doesn't need enemies.

Demitra, who spent the past two seasons as Marian Gaborik's sidekick, came back to haunt his old mates by scoring the tying goal and assisting on the winning goal to lift the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory in a Northwest Division showdown at Xcel Energy Center.

"It's definitely fun to beat your old team," said Demitra, who also has made his former team, St. Louis, sing the blues with 10 goals and 18 points in 11 games. "You definitely want to prove that they made mistakes when they let you go."

The only thing that would have been sweeter for Demitra is if Gaborik suited up. But his out-of-sight, out-of-mind best friend missed his 15th consecutive game because of a "lower body" injury.

"It's too bad Gaby couldn't play. That probably would have been more interesting," Demitra said.

There are shifts in hockey when a team gets pinned in its zone so long, you know it will end with either a penalty or a goal against. One eternal third-period shift ended with Daniel Sedin burying the winner with 8 minutes, 19 seconds left.

The Stephane Veilleux-Mikko Koivu-Antti Miettinen line and defensemen Marek Zidlicky and Martin Skoula were caught doing silhouettes as Demitra and the Sedin Twins -- Daniel and Henrik -- circled menacingly.

Finally, Demitra found an open lane and hit Daniel Sedin.

"We played them tight all night and did our best to play them tight there,'' Veilleux said, "but you leave them a second, that's the kind of players they are."

The Canucks, who have played three more games than the Wild, moved three points ahead of Minnesota. The loss ended the Wild's three-game winning streak and spoiled Koivu's first two-goal game since Nov. 13, 2007.

"I don't think we had good legs. We had six, seven guys that were not at their best," coach Jacques Lemaire said.

If there was any wear and tear from playing the night before in Manhattan, the Canucks didn't show it.

And theoretically, the Wild was supposed to have caught a break when star goalie Roberto Luongo was given a rare night off. But backup Curtis Sanford made 28 saves to win for the first time since Dec. 6.

"We weren't skating as good as we could, and it showed, especially in the third," Lemaire said. "They picked up steam, and we couldn't follow."

After a scoreless first period, Koivu handcuffed Sanford with a bullet. But five minutes later, Steve Bernier tied the score when Willie Mitchell's shot got caught in Erik Reitz's skates.

Soon after, Reitz tripped Ryan Johnson, but on the Vancouver power play, Daniel Sedin's pass hit Kim Johnsson and ricocheted to Koivu outside the zone.

Koivu turned, sped onto a breakaway and with Alexander Edler on his tail, beat Sanford blocker-side for the Wild's first short-handed goal of the season.

But with Johnsson in the box after the Wild killed off a 5-on-3, Demitra's centering feed banked behind Backstrom off Zidlicky.

"It's tough to say when we're wrong and what we could do differently," Koivu said. "Right now, it's too fast to think about the details. Every guy gave all they got, and it just wasn't enough."