from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

The St. Louis Blues aren’t the Minnesota Wild. But then maybe the Vancouver Canucks aren’t the Vancouver Canucks anymore, either.

Validated, educated and emboldened, the Canucks looked Wednesday against the Stanley Cup champion Blues almost nothing like the jittery, uncertain playoff rookies they were just over a week ago against Minnesota.

They handled the powerful Blues’ intensity, size and talent and simply pulled the game away from the champions in the third period as the Canucks won 5-2 to begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ first round.

The Canucks have so many things going for them right now, including the angels on their shoulders. Troy Stecher scored the winning goal Wednesday then looked up to one of them. Stecher’s dad, Peter, died suddenly on Father’s Day in June.

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Watch the game highlights below.