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Gaborik continues comeback when Wild meet Coyotes

Feb 3, 2007 - 6:27 PM Minnesota (28-21-4) at Phoenix (24-26-2) 9:00 pm EST

GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Continuing to make up for lost time, Marian Gaborik remains a good-luck charm for the Minnesota Wild.

The 24-year-old Gaborik again looks to come up big for the improving Wild, who seek their eighth victory in 11 games in Saturday's matchup against the Phoenix Coyotes.

After missing 34 contests with a groin injury, Gaborik is making his presence felt. The all-time franchise scoring leader (294 points), he has nine goals - with four two-goal games - and four assists since his return January 6.

The Wild are 7-3-2 since Gaborik came back and 13-4-2 when he is in the lineup this season. At one point during his absence, they dropped 11 straight road games.

Minnesota is coming off Thursday's 5-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in the third contest of a five-game road trip. Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Mikko Koivu added a pair of tallies for the Wild.

After opening January with five wins, the Coyotes lost six of their next nine before Thursday's 3-2 triumph over the Nashville Predators.

All-Star Yanic Perreault snapped a 2-2 tie when he scored his 18th goal of the season with 5:29 remaining and Shane Doan added his 17th earlier in the third period for Phoenix.

The teams have split their first two encounters this season with Minnesota taking the last meeting, 4-0, on November 24. Niklas Backstrom stopped 28 shots and Pierre-Marc Bouchard had a goal and an assist.