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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- It was only fitting that the Minnesota
Wild's first-ever draft pick helped the franchise earn its initial
victory.
Eighteen-year-old Marian Gaborik scored twice in the final 2:28
Wednesday night as the Wild beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 in the
team's sixth game.
|  | | Wild center Aaron Gavey can't get to the puck in the Lightning zone. |
"I'm glad for Marian, especially because the last couple of
days, we kept him on the ice (after practice) to work a little
harder," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "It's nice to see him
rewarded."
Gaborik scored 3:05 after Alexander Kharitonov tied it at 4.
Gaborik took a pass from Filip Kuba and backhanded it past Kevin
Weekes.
Gaborik added an empty-net goal with 57.6 seconds left, which
was the final margin after Frederik Modin scored for the Lightning
with 11.3 seconds remaining to cut the margin to 6-5.
Jim Dowd and Scott Pellerin had three assists for the Wild, who
took advantage of Tampa Bay's special-teams breakdown to score four
goals in the second period.
The Lightning hadn't given up a power-play goal in 26 chances
coming into the game, but in the second period the Wild were
perfect on two power-play chances and scored a short-handed goal.
Maxim Sushinsky had two goals for the second straight game.
Gaborik, who played last year in the Slovakian senior league, is
tied with Sushinsky for the team lead with four goals.
"It's sick," Wild goalie Jamie McLennan said. "He's 18 years
old and he's a player right now and he's just getting better and
better. It's scary to think how good he's going to be when he's
25."
Gaborik, in his typically subdued manner, just seemed relieved
that his goals gave the Wild their first win.
"I think that when we play like this, we can be successful,"
he said. "I'm very happy that I scored a goal. It was an important
goal."
Modin, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Todd Warriner each
had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay and Weekes made 29 saves.
After a slow first period, the Wild's offense came to life in
the second, scoring four times on 17 shots. The four goals were the
most for the Wild in one period this season.
"We had an awful first period," Lemaire said. "Nothing was
going on, probably because we didn't respect (the Lightning)."
Tampa Bay coach Steve Ludzik was frustrated that his team took
the second period off.
"We made many mistakes. We were not sharp on the
penalty-kill," Ludzik said. "Minnesota is going to beat a lot of
good teams."
Sushinsky ended Tampa Bay's perfect penalty-killing record 50
seconds into the second period when he one-timed a pass from Dowd --
who was holding the puck behind the net -- past Weekes' left glove.
Sushinsky put the Wild ahead again at 15:05 with his fourth
goal. Dowd and Kuba passed the puck back and forth several times at
the top of the right circle until Kuba shot it. With Weekes frozen,
Sushinsky knocked it in the net.
Pellerin added a short-handed goal at 18:11 of the second
period. He put in a rebound of Darby Hendrickson's shot that went
off Weekes' leg.
McLennan had 19 saves for the Wild in his third straight start.
He had been alternating with Manny Fernandez, but Fernandez is out
with a sore right ankle.
Game notes
The Wild heard their first boos at home this season when
they failed to get a shot off during 32 seconds of a two-man
advantage at the end of the first period. ... The Wild announced a
sellout -- the team's third straight -- of 18,064 at Xcel Energy
Center although there were plenty of empty seats. ... The Wild
announced a partnership with the Minnesota Amateur Sports
Commission to host the Women's World Ice Hockey Championships from
April 2-8, 2001. Of the approximately 40,000 women and girls
playing amateur hockey in the United States, about 10,000 are in
Minnesota. Five players on the U.S. roster are Minnesotans.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Tampa Bay Clubhouse
Minnesota Clubhouse
RECAPS
Colorado 5
Columbus 1
Carolina 3
Pittsburgh 2
Dallas 2
San Jose 1
Minnesota 6
Tampa Bay 5
NY Rangers 4
Chicago 2
Phoenix 2
Florida 1
Vancouver 4
Calgary 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Todd Warriner scores the short-handed goal.
avi: 593 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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