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The Canucks <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Canucks+clinch+Northwest+Division+title+with+over+Wild/2763280/story.html">clinched the Northwest Division title</a> [<b>Ben Kuzma</b>, <i>The Province</i>] Sunday night with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild, but they certainly didn't do so in style. They got off to an excellent start with a shorthanded goal from <b>Ryan Kesler</b> and a power-play goal from <b>Kyle Wellwood</b>, and they looked to be in good shape, but they collapsed down the stretch in a way we've seen many times before. <b>Andrew Brunette</b> made the score 2-1 midway through the third and the Wild poured on the pressure late, making it look like a comeback was inevitable.

Even after <b>Alex Edler</b> gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead with a late empty-net goal, they still almost found a way to collapse. <b>Cody Almond</b> cut the lead to one and <b>Antti Miettinen</b> tied the score with less than 20 seconds left. Minnesota had all the momentum and it looked like they would take it home in the extra period, but <b>Henrik</b> and <b>Daniel Sedin</b> combined to set up <b>Sami Salo</b> for the game-winner during a power play created by an ill-advised Wild penalty. It wasn't a glorious win, but all points count equally in the standings, and that's a good thing.

Sunday's effort wasn't all bad, though. Vancouver outshot Minnesota 39-27, which is always good to see. <b>Roberto Luongo</b> also mostly bounced back after <a href="http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/4/2/1402337/moving-right-along-canucks-ducks">an 8-3 drubbing in his last outing</a> [<i>Nucks Misconduct</i>] against the Kings, stopping 24 of the 27 shots he faced. Allowing two goals within a minute late in the third period certainly is cause for concern, though, and suggests that his problems may not be entirely solved.

Also on the bright side, Henrik <a href="http://canucks.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2009021178">picked up his 106th point</a> [AP, <I>Canucks.com</i>] and increased his lead in the scoring race to four points. Kesler and Wellwood both looked very good, and <b>Mikael Samuelsson</b> returned after missing eight games and seemed to be in good form. With him back, Vancouver's got a lot of offensive firepower, which bodes well for their playoff success.

However, there are still real issues that need to be looked at. The Canucks' penalty woes, <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2010/04/03/bouncing-back/">which I discussed Saturday</a>, continued to rear their ugly head; Vancouver took seven minor penalties against the Wild, including two dumb goaltender interference penalties and a delay of game penalty on Salo. They'll have to improve their discipline if they're going to go anywhere in the playoffs. Moreover, <b>Christian Ehrhoff</b> tweaked his knee Sunday night, which has the potential to really hurt the team. It doesn't sound like it's too severe at the moment, but Ehrhoff <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2009/11/28/in-with-the-new-hoff/">has been one of the team's best defencemen this year</a>, so any long-term injury to him might not auger well for the team's prospects.

Still, the Canucks did enough to win here, and that's the key thing for the moment. In addition to clinching the division title and at least the third playoff seed in the Western Conference, they hit 100 points on the season with the win. Their remaining games against the Avalanche, Sharks and Flames won't be easy, and the Canucks probably won't be able to catch Chicago for second place (the Blackhawks have 105 points and four remaining games), but at least now they can view those games as tune-ups, not crucial battles for playoff positioning. That's not a huge victory, but it's a small one, and even little victories count.