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Gaborik scores twice as Wild win second straight on road

Jan 13, 2007 - 5:37 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Marian Gaborik officially is back.

Gaborik scored two goals for the second straight night and defenseman Keith Carney snapped a tie midway through the third period with his first tally in 40 games as the Minnesota Wild posted their second road win in a row, a 4-2 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers.

After recording seven points in seven games to start the season, Gaborik missed the next 34 contests with a strained groin. The Slovakian star returned to action against Colorado on Saturday and was held scoreless vs. Calgary three days later before returning to form Thursday with a pair of goals in a 5-2 victory over Vancouver.

"We were missing him because he's that type of player that can change a game or get you back into a game," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "He can score at any time, so he uses his speed a lot, and players that play against him have to be aware of him."

Gaborik duplicated the feat here, erasing a 1-0 deficit at 5:23 of the second period with a great individual effort and sealing the win in the final seconds of the third with an empty-netter.

"I feel pretty good," he said. "It was a good test, these back-to-back games. I have to make sure I stay loose and that my legs are recovering properly.

"The most important thing is that we got these two wins, and especially against a divisional opponent, so that's huge."

With the game even at 2-2, Carney halted a long drought at 9:56 of the final session. From the left point, the veteran unleashed a wrist shot that deflected off blue-liner Jan Hejda and between the pads of goaltender Dwayne Roloson for his first goal since October 14.

"Has it been that long?" Carney asked. "I don't keep track of goals, really. It's nice when they come and nice to chip in from time to time, but the most important thing is the W."

Brian Rolston also scored and Manny Fernandez made 32 saves for the Wild, who have won back-to-back road games for the first time this season. Minnesota now is 6-15-1 away from home.

"The weight was lifted last night after winning that game," Lemaire said. "It proved that when we work as hard as we do at home, we can win. ... It's nice to see the guys working hard, like they do at home."

"You get back-to-back wins on the road, it's big," Carney said. "Hopefully, we get back our confidence."

Shawn Horcoff and Petr Sykora tallied for Edmonton, which had its streak of consecutive games having earned at least one point snapped at five.

"We were right in that game," Horcoff said. "It was 2-2 with 10 minutes left and they were the ones that scored that goal. We had a lot of chances earlier in the game to go ahead and put the game in our control. But we weren't able to do that."

After a scoreless first period, Horcoff put the Oilers in front when he received a pass from behind the net by Ryan Smyth and fired a shot past Fernandez from the left faceoff circle 20 seconds into the middle session.

Gaborik drew Minnesota even just over five minutes later with his seventh of the season. He was denied from the doorstep after carrying down the left wing and cutting in front but tracked down the puck and went to the top of the right circle before beating Roloson with a wrist shot.

"It was big," Gaborik said of the goal. "It made it 1-1, and that's what we've been talking about - get shots on net and look for rebounds."

"We had a lot of aspects of our game that were really good through the first 30 minutes," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "Then Gaborik got loose and scored a goal, and the ice tilted."

Rolston gave the Wild a 2-1 edge 43 seconds later, burying a rebound in front for his second goal in as many nights and sixth in eight games.

Fernandez preserved the lead by stopping Marty Reasoner on a shorthanded breakaway with three minutes left in the period, but Sykora scored on a quick wrister from the high slot at 17:47 to forge a 2-2 tie.

However, Fernandez was flawless in the third, turning aside all 11 shots he faced.

"He stood tall, faced a lot of shots tonight and he was on top of the crease," Smyth said. "We have to try and get some by him, and that's my territory. I take pride in that. We had some chances, but we weren't able to do that."

"He kept coming up with the big save, but we all thought he was fighting it," Horcoff added. "Rebounds were there, but we weren't able to get anything."