Wild 4, Canucks 2: Zach Parise scored twice and added an assist as host Minnesota moved into a tie with Vancouver atop the Northwest Division.

Defenseman Jared Spurgeon recorded a power-play goal and an assist, rookie Jason Zucker netted his fourth tally and Niklas Backstrom made 25 saves for the Wild, who improved to 9-2-1 at home.

Chris Higgins and captain Henrik Sedin scored for Vancouver, which is 1-4-2 in its last seven games and lost to Minnesota for the first time in three meetings this season. Cory Schneider stopped 28 shots to drop to 1-1-2 this month.

Parise opened the scoring 24 seconds into the game, one-timing a pass from captain Mikko Koivu for his 10th goal of the season. Zucker doubled the lead late in the first period and Spurgeon made it 3-0 early in the second after Vancouver's Mason Raymond was called for tripping.

After Sedin pulled the Canucks within a goal just 62 seconds into the third period, Parise gave Minnesota some breathing room when he stuffed in the rebound of a blast by defenseman Ryan Suter, who finished with two assists. Spurgeon was credited with an assist on Parise’s first goal for his second multi-point performance in his last four games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota holds the tiebreaker for the division lead with 10 regulation/overtime wins to Vancouver’s nine. … Wild C Mike Rupp and Canucks LW Tom Sestito fought midway through a chippy first period. A total of 26 minutes in penalties were handed out in the opening 20 minutes. … Sedin is on a seven-game point streak. He has four goals and five assists in that span and leads Vancouver with 24 points. ... Minnesota has scored with the man advantage in six of its last seven games.