Wild 4, Canucks 2: Hughes Gets to 500 at Rogers Arena

October 25, 2026 - Vancouver - They booed Quinn Hughes every time he touched it. They also played a first-period video tribute that mixed in cheers, the NHL recap said. He still found the empty net on a power-play rebound in the second, point No. 500 in game No. 520, in the building that drafted him.

The Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2. Minnesota is 8-3-2, a night after 5-1 in Seattle. Vancouver is 2-10-1, ten straight losses (0-9-1). Shots were 34-17 Minnesota. Vancouver had 10-5 in the first and 7-29 after that, the NHL recap said. Attendance was 17,560, per ESPN. Maxim Shabanov, Calvin Pickard, Max Sasson, Leevi Merilainen, Brock Boeser, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and Filip Hronek are not seeded on AthX player pages, so those names stay unlinked.

Hughes had a goal and an assist. Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, his NHL-leading 13th goal, the Associated Press recap said. Shabanov had a goal and an assist. Bobby Brink scored. Pickard stopped 15 of 17 for his first win with Minnesota. Sasson and Boeser scored. Merilainen stopped 30 of 34. Joel Eriksson Ek assisted on Hughes. Matt Boldy assisted on Shabanov.

Vancouver's first, Minnesota's 1-0

The Canucks spent the first period in Minnesota's zone. Coach Manny Malhotra told NHL.com everything but the score was a positive coming out of it. They could not keep it.

Shabanov opened it at 18:33 of the first, still on the power play. Kaprizov's cross-crease feed, tucked inside the post before Merilainen could get across. 1-0. Hughes, on NHL.com: the passion with the fanbase is what makes it special to play here. It was cool to be back. He thought Vancouver was better in the first. Minnesota pushed in the second and third.

Brink made it 2-0 at 5:54 of the second. Turnover inside the blue line. Michael McCarron sent him to the right dot. Fake, deke, tuck. First goal of the season.

500, then the 13th, then a 4-2 that still felt like a leak

Hughes scored at 12:55. He passed to Eriksson Ek in the low slot from behind the net, skated to the other side, and put the rebound in. 3-0. The NHL recap called him the seventh-fastest defenseman to 500, and the second-fastest American after Brian Leetch (496 games). The December 12, 2025 trade sent him to Minnesota for Rossi, Ohgren, Zeev Buium, and a 2026 first-rounder used on Adam Novotny at No. 24.

Kaprizov made it 4-0 at 3:38 of the third. Hughes put him in alone. Deke. Kaprizov, on NHL.com: he does not want to say it is a hot start. There are so many places they can play better. It is early. Stay in shape. Keep doing it the right way. The NHL notes said Hughes and Kaprizov each have points in 11 of Minnesota's 13 games.

Sasson scored on a breakaway between Pickard's pads at 6:24. 4-1. Boeser one-timed from the high slot at 16:53 after Elias Pettersson pulled up on the rush. 4-2. Jake DeBrusk had the other assist. Boeser told NHL.com they do it for a period, then in the second they stop. You can see the ice tilt. They need to squash it.

Malhotra: they are searching for answers. When they are physical and win puck battles, they look good. Then they come off it and a transition team comes to life. Wild coach John Hynes liked the pushback after Vancouver took the play to them.

Minnesota went 2-for-5 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 for 57 seconds in the third that did not score. Vancouver did not record a shot on its only power play, the NHL notes said. Pickard's first Minnesota win gives him wins with five NHL teams.

AthX Engine on a 500-point night that still needed a 15-save win

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) scored Hughes and Shabanov at 8.80: a goal, an assist, three shots, a power-play bonus each. Kaprizov is 7.70. McCarron is 6.00. Brink is 5.20. Pickard's 15-save win is 6.60. Minnesota's club line is 18.80. Vancouver's regulation loss is 0.40.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for Hughes after 500 in the building that booed him, and for a Canucks club on a ten-game slide. They move together. They are not the same number.

Track Hughes, Kaprizov, Boldy, and both clubs on the marketplace. Minnesota visits Utah on Tuesday. Vancouver is in Anaheim that night.

*Sources: NHL.com recap, ESPN recap, ESPN box. AthX Engine fantasy points scored from NHL gamecenter box 2026020184. Information only; not financial advice.*