Wild's player of the game vs Canucks: Freddy Gaudreau

ST. PAUL — Freddy Gaudreau arguably had his best game of the season and scored the Minnesota Wild's lone goal in their 2-1 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks inside Xcel Energy Center Saturday afternoon.

Gaudreau was the only Wild player who scored on Casey DeSmith until Mats Zuccarello beat DeSmith five-hole to earn the Wild their third win in a row and second in the shootout.

Gaudreau got the Wild on the board with 1:55 left in the first period when he tipped the puck past DeSmith blocker side, which completed a fancy tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Marcus Foligno and Pat Maroon.

"It always feels good," Gaudreau said of his goal postgame. "My focus was not really on results and stuff. It's just about doing the right things to just keep doing all the little details right and that was my focus, but it was fun to contribute offensively in the win."

Not only is Gaudreau a reliable player, Foligno said, but he knows where to be. "He's always in the right spot," Foligno said of Gaudreau, "and he's got really good hands."

With Gaudreau on the ice, the Wild controlled 71.55 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share and had a 13-5 edge in shot attempts, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

Gaudreau also spent two minutes and 46 seconds of his 16:03 of ice time Saturday on the penalty kill — which went 5-for-5 and stifled a Canucks power play that entered the game as the league's fifth-best at 26.7 percent.

The line of Gaudreau, Foligno and Maroon overall has been playing well and got rewarded for it Saturday.

Gaudreau is playing his best hockey of the season under John Hynes after what was a slow start to the season for him. The 30-year-old versatile forward went pointless in his first nine games and dealt with an injury in late October and early November — which caused him to miss 10 games.

While he only has four points in nine games under Hynes, Gaudreau has looked more like himself. The Wild need Gaudreau to continue to build on each game and be the two-way player who scored a combined 33 goals and 82 points over the past two seasons. 

After all, the Wild rewarded him in April with a five-year contract extension worth $2.1 million annually.