MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Goaltender Anton Khudobin recorded his first career shutout to help the Minnesota Wild blank the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks 4-0 Sunday.
Making just his third career start because of injuries to Minnesota's top two netminders, the 24-year-old Khudobin made 32 saves as the Wild snapped their three-game losing streak.
Minnesota had been outscored 13-2 during its slump but put together a complete effort against the Canucks.
"Good teams like that don't play 40 minutes, they play 60 full minutes and it doesn't matter what the score is," said Khudobin, who was summoned from the AHL on Jan 8.
"They just play as hard as they can, so I was ready for that."
Andrew Brunette, Martin Havlat, Matt Cullen and John Madden all scored to give Minnesota (22-18-5) its second win over the Canucks this season.
Vancouver's Cory Schneider started in net in place of the red-hot Roberto Luongo, making 21 stops, but the Canucks (29-10-6) lost for the second time in three games.
Luongo has not been beaten in regulation in a career-best 12 straight games, but he was benched in favor of backup Schneider, who has lost his last two starts.
The Canucks lost defenseman Andrew Alberts in the first period with a right shoulder injury.
"They did the best they could, but it's a tough job for them," Schneider said of his defensemen. "We've been fortunate during this stretch not to lose too many guys, now we're starting to and we'll have to deal with it."
Minnesota took control of the game in the second where Brunette opened the scoring at 3:31 and Havlat followed with a goal.
Cullen and Madden both netted shots in the third period.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner; Editing by Steve Ginsburg)
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