Minnesota alone atop Northwest

Brent Burns, Branko Radivojevic, and Stephane Veilleux scored, Niklas Backstrom stopped 29 shots, and the Minnesota Wild took over sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division with a 3-1 victory over Colorado last night in St. Paul.

The Wild have 86 points, 2 ahead of Colorado, Vancouver, and idle Calgary, who are in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Western Conference.

Peter Forsberg, back in the Avalanche lineup after missing four games with a groin injury, was a minus-2.

Canucks 3, Coyotes 1 - Henrik Sedin scored two goals, both on rebounds of shots by twin brother Daniel, and host Vancouver defeated Phoenix.

Taylor Pyatt scored a power-play goal and Roberto Luongo stopped 25 shots for the Canucks.