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VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sven Baertschi is starting to get his groove back for the Vancouver Canucks.The Swiss forward scored with 2:35 left in regulation Tuesday night to cap a combined five-goal outburst in the third period, lifting the Canucks to a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild.Baertschi, who had a goal and two assists in his last outing before missing consecutive road games with a foot injury, tipped a point shot from Troy Stecher to cap the scoring on a night Vancouver fall behind 2-0 and also blow a 4-2 lead.They played well right away, but we stuck with it, Baertschi said. They got the two goals (in the third) which set us back a little bit, but consistency was key for us and it didnt really phase us.Baertschi has been looking for consistency this season after having 15 goals and 13 assists in 69 games in his first full NHL season last year.. He didnt score his first goal until the 14th game this year, but has played better in recent weeks alongside linemates Bo Horvat and the rejuvenated Alexandre Burrows.The chemistry is coming along and were starting to create more and more, said Baertschi, who has three goals and seven assists. Pucks are going in as of late. Thats a good sign.Brandon Sutter and Ben Hutton each had a goal and an assist, and Horvat and Loui Eriksson also scored for Vancouver, which has won consecutive games for the first time since starting the season 4-0. Henrik Sedin and Stecher had two assists each and Ryan Miller stopped 38 shots.Erik Haula scored the tying goal late in the third for Minnesota. Jason Pominville had two goals, Jason Zucker added a goal and an assist, and Nino Niederreiter had two assists. Darcy Kuemper got the start with Devan Dubnyk given the night off and finished with 30 saves.Tied 2-2 through two periods, Eriksson gave Vancouver its first lead 1:09 into the third with his sixth of the season when he finished off a scramble after the Wild failed to clear the puck from their zone.Horvat then tipped a shot past Kuemper for his team-leading eighth at 2:08 to give the Canucks a two-goal edge.Goals and tips, weird bounces, said Kuemper, who was making his fifth start. It was not a fun one.But the Wild struck right back when Zucker blocked Erik Gudbransons point shot and moved in alone on Miller before beating the Vancouver goalie with a nice backhand deke at 3:20 for his third.Kuemper then made a great stop on Eriksson off a feed from Markus Granlund just over a minute later to keep the Wild within one.Haula rewarded his goalie by scoring his third on a tip of Ryan Suters point shot with 5:49 left in regulation.Trailing 2-0 midway through the second with just 10 shots on the night, the Canucks came to life on back-to-back power plays to tie it. Sutter tipped Stechers blast from the point at 9:23 for his sixth before Hutton pinched down from the point on another man advantage just 1:59 later to roof a loose puck at the side of the net for his third.Huttons goal marked just the second time this season Vancouvers power play had connected twice in the same game, and the first since Oct. 22.I thought the power play was opportunistic, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. There are other nights weve had better power plays, but Stecher had a good point shot on one and Hutton did a good job coming down the backside.Already without Christopher Tanev, who has been out with a lower-body injury since early November, the Canucks were missing the other half of their top defensive pairing after it was revealed Monday that Alexander Edler required surgery on a broken finger suffered in Saturdays shootout victory in Colorado.With the youngest defense in the NHL as a result of Edlers injury, the Canucks knew they would have to play a simple, error-free game, but were instead exposed early in the first. Luca Sbisa, one of the veteran members of the current corps at age 26, misplayed a puck at the Vancouver blue line to allow Niederreiter to swoop in on Miller before Pominville was buried the rebound for his fourth into an open net at 5:07.The Canucks thought they had tied it with 5:18 left in the period when Henrik Sedin scored what looked to be his sixth, but the call on the ice was overturned after Minnesota challenged that Sutter had interfered with Kuemper.Pominville then made it 2-0 with his second of the game and fifth of the season on a shot off the rush at 3:24 of the second that beat Miller under the blocker.Game notesEdler is expected to be out four to six weeks. ... Henrik Sedin had two assists to give him 69 points (13 goals, 56 assists) in 81 career games against Minnesota. ... Wild D Jared Spurgeon celebrated his 27th birthday Tuesday.UP NEXTWild: At Calgary on Friday night in the middle game of a five-game trip.Canucks: Host Anaheim on Thursday night.Christian Wilkins Jersey . The nimble-footed quarterback got his wish, dashing through the snow and a weary defence all the way into the NCAA record book. Minkah Fitzpatrick Dolphins Jersey . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. http://www.dolphinsrookiestore.com/Dolphins-Christian-Wilkins-Jersey/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Michael Deiter Jersey . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Jason Taylor Jersey .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again.HOUSTON -- The sixth-ranked Houston Cougars were determined to take care of business this year after Connecticut detailed their perfect season a year ago.Greg Ward Jr. made sure they did just that.Ward Jr. threw for a career-high 389 yards and accounted for five touchdowns in just more than three quarters to help Houston beat Connecticut 42-14 on Thursday night.Houstons only blemish last season came in the 20-17 loss to the Huskies when they were 10-0.We never use the word revenge, coach Tom Herman said. The word we used was atonement -- to make a wrong a right. We had a chance to atone for the transgressions of last years team.Ward didnt start that game because of an ankle injury, and there was a scary moment early in the second quarter when he took a hard hit in the midsection by Junior Joseph on a flea-flicker and had to leave the game.But he missed just one play before returning and showed no ill effects from the blow, leading the Cougars (5-0, 2-0 American) on three more touchdown drives in the half to leave Houston up 28-7 at halftime.Herman didnt think missing last years game against UConn made this one more important to Ward.I think Wards got a chip on his shoulder every week, I dont know that it was any bigger this week, Herman said. I think the whole team had a juice and a pep in their step knowing what this opponent did to last years team and they wanted to make sure it didnt happen again.Ward and Joseph got in each others faces after another hit by the linebacker on a touchdown throw by Ward later in the second quarter, and it earned Joseph an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.Joseph said the run-in was totally my fault before raving about the quarterback.Hes probably the best player I played against, Joseph said. Hes very electric. Thats why hes in the race for the Heisman. Just a great player.Ward had touchdown runs of 30 and 10 yards and threw scoring passes of 3, 15 and 4 yards. He was replaced by Kyle Postma with 12 minutes remaining.Ward doesnt like talking about himself and deflected questions about his big game.The stats, I dont think about that at all, he said. The only stat that I worry about is win-loss.Noel Thomas had a career-high 135 yards receiving and a touchdown for Connecticut (2-3, 0-2), and Bryant Shirreffs threw for 239 yards and ran for a TD.Losing is terrible, Bob Diaco said. We obbviously wanted to finish phase one of our season better than 2-3.dddddddddddd A play here and a play there, and that would have been the case.THE TAKEAWAYCONNECTICUT: The Huskies didnt commit any turnovers after being plagued by them in recent weeks, but they were simply overmatched by the Cougars on both sides of the ball.HOUSTON: The Cougars continued the dominance theyve shown all season, having no trouble putting away the Huskies after last years misstep. With Ward leading the offense and a swarming defense which finished with four sacks, its hard to imagine that anyone has much of a chance to beat the Cougars before their Nov. 17 showdown with No. 3 Louisville.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Cougars should maintain their spot in the poll after cruising past an opponent they were expected to beat. But they could jump a spot or two if any of the teams above them lose on Saturday.INJURY REPORTThe Cougars werent slowed by playing without three starters on Thursday. Running back Duke Catalon missed the game with a concussion and linebackers Tyus Bowser and Matthew Adams both sat out after a fight on Wednesday during games meant for team building.The two got over competitive, Herman said. Things briefly got out of hand during one of the games and resulted in a scuffle between Tyus and Matt ... it was a freak accident and the result of the scuffle was a broken bone for Tyus.Bowser will be out for a few weeks with the head injury and Adams was suspended for Thursdays game but will return next week.BONNER IMITATES IDOLLinell Bonner had a highlight-reel play when he stretched out to grab a reception with one hand for a touchdown that pushed Houstons lead to 42-7 in the third quarter. He finished with 12 receptions for 159 yards -- both career highs. The one-handed catch was reminiscent of some of the grabs DeAndre Hopkins often makes for the Houston Texans.Bonner was asked if that catch was a Hopkins impression.Thats my favorite NFL receiver right now. I really look up to him so I could say yeah, Bonner said before flashing a huge smile.UP NEXTCONNECTICUT: The Huskies host Cincinnati on Oct. 8.HOUSTON: The Cougars visit Navy on Oct. 8.---Online: AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '