Minnesota generally gets colder and darker come November. But for a Minnesota Wild team that stumbled out of the gates in its first dozen games, flipping the calendar to the eleventh month seems to have provided some vital daylight.

On the first night of November, the Wild turned in a much-needed start-to-finish effort and got rewarded, beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 to snap a five-game losing skid.

Clinging to a one-goal lead in the third period, the Wild got a clincher from an unlikely source, when third liner Vinnie Hinostoza snapped a rising shot off the glove of Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko. It was Hinostroza’s first goal of the season, and gave them some vital breathing room.

“I thought it was a good 60-minute effort. I thought both special teams were good,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “There was a lot more physicality in the game. I thought we checked well. We played faster. I thought our execution was better than it has been. So it was nice to see that type of performance all the way around.”

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists, while Marco Rossi, Jonas Brodin and Ryan Hartman also scored as Minnesota won for the first time since Oct. 20.

The better effort came after team captain Jared Spurgeon called a players-only meeting on Halloween and got some of the team’s issues out in the air.

“We had a great meeting the other day, just the players. We really talked about things. We know how special this group is. Every piece of the puzzle is there, we just got to put it together,” Hinostroza said. “Every team I’ve been on, and I’ve been on a lot, every team I’ve been on has gone through something like this. Whether it’s later the season or the middle of the season, it just so happens to be right at the beginning when we have high expectations. It’s only one win, we’re definitely not out of it. We’ve just got to keep getting better and keep playing Wild hockey.”

Drew O’Connor scored his first two goals of the season for Vancouver, but Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson had 26 saves in the win as Minnesota improved to 4-6-3 on the season and 2-3-2 at home. The goalie said this was a needed shot in the arm for a team that has been saying all the right things in public even while struggling on the ice.

“We’ve been talking about, and still feel good about our game,” he said. “But, as I said, you have to fake it a little bit. You fake it to the outside and show that you’re confident. But it’s a little nerve wracking on the inside there. And a win like this can change it and start building that momentum from the inside.”

Minnesota’s power play, which opened the day ranked fourth, statistically, in the NHL, got two chances in the first period. They failed to get a shot on the first man-advantage, but cashed in on their second chance.

After a set-up pass from Joel Eriksson Ek found him behind the Vancouver defenders, Tarasenko streaked across the top of the crease and tucked a backhand shot past Demko. It was Tarasenko’s second goal since joining the Wild via a trade with Detroit over the summer.

Almost as important, for a Wild penalty kill that entered the evening statistically last in the NHL, they negated the only penalty taken by the home team in the first period, icing the puck three times.

Vancouver began the middle frame with a strong push, recording seven of the period’s first eight shots and tying the score on Drew O’Connor’s first goal of the season. Gustavsson made the save on a wide-angle shot by Mackenzie MacEachern, only to have the rebound bounce right to the stick of O’Connor, who was crashing the net.

Tarasenko played the set-up role as the Wild regained the lead later in the second. His shot from the blue line made it through a crowd in front of Demko, and the goalie knocked it down, but was unable to stop Rossi’s crack at the rebound.

After Hinostroza provided a two-goal lead, Brodin’s shot from along the goal line found an imperceptible gap between the post and Demko’s blocker to put Minnesota up 4-1. O’Connor scored off a faceoff to the left of Gustavsson a short time later to keep things close.

The Wild won just three of 12 games in October, and welcomed a chance to start anew with the calendar flipping over.

“It wasn’t the month that we wanted. There wasn’t a lot of things to go through, but sometimes when you get tested, particularly early in the year, it can be a real positive for your team and bring it together and get to the root of some things that weren’t there for large majorities of the month,” Hynes said. “We know it’s there and now it’s getting to it. I think that’s positive, but anytime you go through some of these adverse situations, it’s hard. It’s hard on everyone, right? You have to work through it. You have to dig in on certain things. I think we did that tonight.”

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Demko finished with 22 saves for the Canucks, who fell to 6-7-0 under first-year coach Adam Foote. The coach brought his goalie to the bench with four minutes to go in favor of an extra attacker, only to see Hartman fire the puck from the far goal line into the empty net.

“They came out real strong,” Foote said, tipping his cap to the Wild. “Demer kept us there early. We let a couple slip – uncharacteristic, on a rush. We gave up middle ice a couple of times. But it happens.”

The Wild and Canucks will meet two more times this season – Dec. 6 in Vancouver and April 2 in St. Paul.

The Wild’s six-game homestand concludes on Tuesday with the Nashville Predators’ first visit of the season. It is a 7 p.m. start at Grand Casino Arena.