ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Wild won’t go away, and they won’t stop scoring, either.

Andrew Brunette’s two goals led another unlikely outburst by the Wild, who sidestepped elimination for the fifth time this postseason with a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.

The Western Conference semifinal series is tied at 3 games apiece.

Dwayne Roloson made 30 saves for Minnesota, who also got goals from Darby Hendrickson, Antti Laaksonen and seldom-used Lubomir Sekeras. Marian Gaborik and Cliff Ronning each had two assists as the Wild went 3-for-5 on the power play.

The Wild, who’ve scored 12 goals the last two games, are an NHL-leading 14-for-55 (25.5 percent) on the man advantage during the postseason.

Minnesota was a surprise qualifier for the playoffs in its third season, but the Wild are a game away from advancing to the conference finals. They became just the fourth team in NHL history to win five elimination games in one postseason. No team has ever overcome two 3-1 series deficits in the same postseason. The Wild trailed Colorado by that number in the first round before winning three straight – two in Denver.

Spurs 114, Lakers 95

SAN ANTONIO – The three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers didn’t merely lose. They were humiliated by an opponent seeking two years’ worth of revenge.

Getting the bulk of their offense from an unlikely source – defensive specialist Bruce Bowen – the San Antonio Spurs trounced Los Angeles 114-95 Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round series.

This one became lopsided early and stayed that way, with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal watching the entire fourth quarter from the bench. Bowen, whose main job in this series is to defend Bryant, connected on seven of his eight 3-point attempts and finished with 27 points.

The Spurs led by 17 at the half, went ahead by 33 in the third and led by 27 entering the fourth.

O’Neal had an easier time on offense that he did in Game 1, making 10 of his 14 shots for 27 points. Bryant scored 24 points, though he needed 23 shots to do it, but Los Angeles – playing without injured small forwards Rick Fox and Devean George – got little offense from anyone else.

The series now moves to Los Angeles, where the Lakers will be facing a 2-0 deficit for the first time during their three-year run of success.

No team would be happier than the Spurs to be the ones to knock the Lakers out of the postseason. Los Angeles has defeated San Antonio in the playoffs the past two seasons, sweeping them in 2001 and defeating them 4-1 a year ago.

Game 3 is Friday, with Game 4 Sunday afternoon.

The Spurs shot better than 60 percent for most of the game and often turned misplays into points.

Malik Rose missed a dunk in the first quarter, but Ginobili caught the carom and turned it into a layup.

Tony Parker fell down trying to fight through a pair of defenders, but he found Ginobili for another basket while sitting on the floor.

Ginobili tossed up a short baseline jumper in the second quarter that bounced twice on top of the backboard before dropping through the net.

Ginobili finished with 17 points, Parker had 16 and Speedy Claxton 15. MVP Tim Duncan had 12 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in 33 minutes. The Spurs had six players in double figures.

Three San Antonio players reached double digits in points in the first half, and none of them were Duncan.

Bowen swished his second 3-pointer barely two minutes into the game, and Ginobili scored 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting over a six-minute stretch as the Spurs opened a 31-18 lead by the end of the first period.

O’Neal scored 15 points in the second quarter, but that didn’t stop San Antonio’s lead from getting bigger.

Bowen hit three more 3-pointers in four attempts to finish the half with 17 points, and Parker made three baskets on drives late in the period, including a layup with 4.8 seconds remaining to extend the Spurs’ advantage to 60-43.

Notes: Bryant was 2-for-7 in the second half after shooting 10-for-19 in the second half of Monday’s opening game. … Fox, who tore a tendon in his left foot in Game 4 of the Minnesota series, will have surgery Monday in New York. … A Spurs fan unfurled a poster of a bikini-clad woman under the Lakers basket in the second quarter in a bid to distract O’Neal while he shot a free throw. The fan was quickly hustled away by security. O’Neal missed the shot, but made his second attempt. … The game was broadcast live in Ginobili’s native Argentina through a special arrangement with ESPN. Games 3 and 4 will also be shown there.

AP-ES-05-08-03 0030EDT