Booed, then brilliant: Quinn Hughes reaches 500 points as Wild beat Canucks 4-2 in Vancouver return

A hostile homecoming

Quinn Hughes could hardly have scripted a louder homecoming, even if the noise was not the kind he once heard at Rogers Arena. Booed on almost every touch in his first game back in Vancouver since his trade to Minnesota, the defenceman answered with a goal and an assist, reached 500 career points, and helped the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 on Sunday night.

For Hughes, the night was personal long before the puck dropped. Traded by Vancouver to Minnesota on 12 December 2025, he returned as a visitor to the rink where he had spent the first six and a half seasons of his NHL career. The Canucks played a video tribute in the first period, and Hughes received a mix of cheers during it, but the reception turned hostile again once play resumed.

Minnesota seize control

Vancouver started the stronger side, outshooting Minnesota 10-5 in the first period and spending long stretches in the attacking zone. Yet it was the Wild who took the lead. With 87 seconds left in the opening period, Maxim Shabanov converted a cross-crease pass from Kirill Kaprizov on the power play, tucking the puck just inside the right post for 1-0. It was a familiar pattern for a Canucks side that came into the game with the league's worst penalty kill, and Minnesota finished 2-for-5 with the man advantage.

The second period belonged to Minnesota. Bobby Brink doubled the lead at 5:54, taking a pass from Michael McCarron, driving in on Leevi Merilainen, and tucking a backhand shot inside the right post for his first goal of the season. Then came the moment the night will be remembered for. At 12:55 of the second period, again on the power play, Hughes collected a rebound in front of the net and scored into an open net to make it 3-0. It was his 500th NHL point, in his 520th game, and it stood as the winning goal.

A milestone and a lead that lasts

That milestone puts Hughes in rare company. He became the second-fastest American defenceman to reach 500 points, behind only Brian Leetch, who did it in 496 games, and the seventh-fastest defenceman of any nationality to reach the mark. Hughes led all players with 26:10 of ice time on Sunday, and he did not stop at 500: early in the third period he set up Kaprizov for point number 501.

Kaprizov's goal, at 3:38 of the third period, was the game's decisive piece of attacking quality. Hughes carried the puck up the ice and found Kaprizov breaking through the middle, and the winger finished with a backhand shot around Merilainen's left pad to make it 4-0. It was Kaprizov's league-leading 13th goal of the season, and, like Hughes and Shabanov, he finished with a goal and an assist.

To their credit, the Canucks did not fold. Max Sasson broke up the shutout at 6:24 of the third period, scoring on a breakaway after a long pass from Filip Hronek, and Brock Boeser cut the lead to 4-2 with 3:07 remaining, snapping in a shot from the high slot after a pass from Elias Pettersson. But the late goals only made the score respectable. Over the final two periods, Minnesota outshot Vancouver 29-7, and the early promise of the home side's first period had long faded.

Two teams heading in opposite directions

The result matters beyond one emotional night. Minnesota, playing the second game of a back-to-back after a 5-1 win at Seattle on Saturday, improved to 8-3-2 and moved two points clear of the Utah Mammoth at the top of the Central Division. The Wild are 6-2-1 in their past nine games, and coach John Hynes praised his team's response after a difficult start, saying he liked how Minnesota pushed back and stayed competitive in the way the game demanded.

For Vancouver, the defeat deepens a miserable run. The Canucks fell to 2-10-1 and have now lost ten straight games, going 0-9-1 in that stretch, and they have not won since beating Calgary 4-1 on 3 October. Coach Manny Malhotra spoke about a team that plays well for a period and then comes off the things that work, while Boeser said Vancouver could see the ice tilt in Minnesota's favour and needed to find a way to respond.

In goal, Calvin Pickard, making just his second start of the season, made 15 saves for his first win as a Wild player, and he was rarely troubled once Minnesota had built its lead. At the other end, Merilainen made 30 saves and kept Vancouver in the game longer than the run of play suggested, but he was left exposed too often as the Wild took over in the second and third periods.

Hughes himself struck a gracious note afterwards. He said the passion of the Vancouver fan base was what made playing there special, that it was cool to be back and exciting, and that he was glad Minnesota got the win on a difficult back-to-back. He did not need to answer the crowd with words, because the milestone goal and the assist that followed had already done that. Minnesota now visits Utah on Tuesday, while Vancouver travels to Anaheim the same night, still searching for the win that would end its slide.