Vancouver, British Columbia ? With Dallas, Detroit and Colorado out of the way, the road to the Stanley Cup finals looked much clearer for the Vancouver Canucks.

Until Minnesota pulled another stunning comeback.

Up 3-1 in their second-round series, the Canucks needed just one more victory to have home-ice advantage in the Western Conference finals.

That win never came. The Wild won three straight, including twice in Vancouver, to steal the series. Vancouver even led 2-0 in Game 7, but fell 4-2 on Thursday night.

“I just think we had a golden opportunity,” forward Markus Naslund said. “You have a dream since you were a kid of winning the Stanley Cup and then this happens. It’s tough.”

It’s tougher knowing the seventh-seeded Anaheim Mighty Ducks were waiting in the wings, and the Wild were down 3-1 in a series for the second time in these playoffs — a deficit never overcome twice in one year.

But the Canucks suffered their first three-game losing streak of the season while facing a team that finished 11 points behind them in the regular season.

“This is a team we probably should have beat,” Vancouver forward Trevor Linden said. “But they played well, they played hard and they’re a frustrating team to play against.”

For a young team that made the playoffs during the last week of the previous two seasons, the expectations in Vancouver involved securing a higher seed and advancing past the opening round for the first time since 1995.

The Canucks completed the first task handily, but expectations increased after they set a franchise-record with 104 points.

After coming back from a 3-1 deficit against St. Louis in the first round, and watching the remaining top four teams get knocked out early, those expectations started to include the Stanley Cup.

“I thought we were poised to make a serious push here,” said Trent Klatt, one of three players set to become unrestricted free agents this summer. “Everyone was very excited and ready to take a run at that silver cup, and unfortunately we have to wait until next year.”

At a time of year when special teams and goaltending are always key, the Canucks lost in both areas. Minnesota finished the series 8-for-28 on the power play.

“You can blame the goalie on some, but when there’s 15 goals scored there’s other things going wrong,” said Dan Cloutier, who was beaten three times on six shots in Game 7.