EDMONTON, Alberta _ What once was a best-of-five series is now a best-of-three.
After the Minnesota Wild eked out an early advantage in a near-spotless performance in its return to play, the slate was wiped clean Tuesday night when the Vancouver Canucks responded with a 4-3 victory in Game 2 at Rogers Place to even the qualifying-round showdown 1-1.
A pivotal Game 3 that will push someone to the brink of elimination is Thursday afternoon.
Led by their top scorers who were mostly missing in the Wild's 3-0 Game 1 victory Sunday, Vancouver scored twice in the second period to crack open the action.
Unlike Sunday's opener when the Wild had control early, the team was in chase mode from the start.
Only 24 seconds into the first period, Tanner Pearson connected on the Canucks' first shot _ pouncing on a carom off the glass that sent the puck to the middle.
It was the fastest goal given up by the Wild in the team's postseason history, eclipsing the 26-second tally from Patrick Sharp (Dallas) on April 18, 2016.
The Wild avoided penalty trouble in Game 1 since it put Vancouver on the power play only once, but that wasn't the case in the rematch. Three consecutive penalties later in the first gave the Canucks a steady look at Alex Stalock, but the Wild's penalty killers were up for the challenge.
And they were rewarded for their efforts when Luke Kunin capitalized shorthanded at 17:16 _ a shot he wired by Jacob Markstrom after accepting an up-ice feed from Zach Parise.
The goal was Kunin's first career playoff marker, and he became the seventh player in team history to record a shorthanded postseason goal; Parise was the last to do so April 26, 2015, vs. St. Louis.
Kunin is also the 11th player to score his first career regular season and playoff goal shorthanded.
More offensive-zone time would follow in the second, but the Wild couldn't convert.
Instead, the Canucks regained the lead.
Soon after surviving a Wild power play, J.T. Miller toe-dragged around a sprawled Matt Dumba off the rush and flung the puck behind Stalock at 3:01.
The Wild continued to generate pressure in Vancouver's end, with Kevin Fiala finding a wide-open Eric Staal in front for one of the game's best chances, but Markstrom fended off the shot.
A few minutes later, an Elias Pettersson heave at the net kicked out to Brock Boeser at the back post for the tap-in at 8:42 that counted as Boeser's first career playoff goal.
The uptick in offense from Vancouver came after head coach Travis Green shuffled the team's lineup.
Not only was Boeser promoted to the top line next to Pettersson and J.T. Miller, but the Canucks also subbed in veteran Loui Eriksson and Jake Virtanen (who had 18 goals in the regular season).
These changes worked, with Vancouver's top-six much more engaged and dangerous than the group was in Game 1, but the Wild still had enough chances to close the gap _ especially after Vancouver doubled its lead.
That continued in the third period, at least initially, until the Wild again started making frequent trips to the penalty box.
And by their sixth power play, the Canucks finally made the Wild pay.
Captain Bo Horvat deflected in a point shot by rookie sensation Quinn Hughes at 6:22 to earn his second point of the game after he assisted on Pearson's goal to open the game. Miller also picked up a helper to round out his two-point effort.
Fiala got the Wild to within 4-2, going top-shelf on Markstrom with 2:29 remaining, then 4-3 with Fiala scoring again in the final seconds.
Wild winger Ryan Hartman left the game in the third period after getting tangled up with Pettersson along the boards.
As for the Wild's power play, it was silenced by the Canucks after going 2-for-4 on Sunday.
