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Bouchard, Parrish help Wild extend home win streak

Jan 3, 2007 - 5:18 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Mark Parrish and Pierre-Marc Bouchard did their part to help the Minnesota Wild extend their home winning streak.

Bouchard scored two goals and added two assists while Parrish also scored twice to lift the Wild to a 5-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers for their eight straight home win.

The Wild improved to 17-3-1 this season at home.

"We caught a team that was obviously tired," Parrish said. "We wanted to jump on them early and not give them any chances. They've got some guys in their lineup that can score some goals. We really wanted to keep those guys in check, and keep it a slow-paced game."

"From the first drop of the puck, we didn't give ourselves a chance to win the game," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said. "We ran into penalty problems early in the game. They scored that first power-play goal and closed out the play on us. By far they were the better team tonight."

Brian Rolston also scored for Minnesota while Manny Fernandez recorded 14 saves to improve to 4-1-0 in his last five starts while only allowing 13 goals.

Rolston's power-play goal set the tone for the game early, as his tally came on a slap shot from the left point that sailed past Kari Lehtonen for a 1-0 lead at 2:54 of the first period.

"It looked like there was a big hole in my stick," Lehtonen said. "They say he shoots hard, but I didn't know he could shoot through the stick. I should have gotten it with my blocker."

Bouchard, who entered with eight goals and 29 points in 39 games this season, scored consecutive goals just over six minutes apart in the third period to give the Wild a 5-0 lead.

"This was a solid overall game," Bouchard said. "The power play played well again tonight, we moved the puck well. It's a good win and it's good for our confidence."

Jon Sim scored the only goal for the Thrashers, who lost for only the second time in their last eight starts. Lehtonen finished with 30 saves.

"We just didn't show up," Lehtonen said. "It was embarrassing."