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Smith ends 91-game goalless drought in Wild victory

Feb 23, 2007 - 7:42 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- It isn't every day Wyatt Smith gets to make a significant offensive contribution for the Minnesota Wild.

Smith scored his first goal of the season and Adam Hall and Todd White added tallies as the Wild held on for their third victory in four games, a 4-3 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche.

Playing his first season in Minnesota after splitting five campaigns between Nashville, Phoenix and the New York Islanders, Smith scored his first goal in 92 games dating to February 13, 2004, when he was with the Predators.

Entering with just two assists in 44 contests this season, Smith gave the Wild a 2-0 lead with 2:39 left in the second period, beating goaltender Peter Budaj just inside the left goalpost with a short wrist shot.

"I'm thankful that I got one and I'm thankful we won," Smith said. "Our main objective was getting two points, and we did that. Wow, 92 games. I wasn't sure I'd get another one. But for me, the big thing was that it gave us a two-goal lead and we got the two points."

Minnesota widened the lead just 79 seconds later on a power play as White redirected Marian Gaborik's cross-ice pass inside the right post from the right faceoff circle.

"(White) played much better tonight, very solid," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "That's the Todd White I know and remember, and that's how I want him to play all the time."

Hall opened the scoring with his sixth tally at 9:02 of the first session with a backhander past Budaj's right pad.

"One thing we did real well is we skated," Wild captain Mark Parrish said. "That was the most important thing. We got in on the forecheck and played the body and tried to make it as tough as we could for their D to make that first pass to their forwards.

"We showed how dangerous their forwards can be when you give them opportunities. They don't miss too many opportunities."

After defenseman Ken Klee and Brad Richardson cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third period, Mikko Koivu netted an insurance goal - his 14th - for Minnesota with 2:14 to play.

"They had nothing to lose in the third period, when it was 3-0," Koivu said. "That's what teams do, and we would have done the same. I think we still played good defense. The win feels good, though."

Parrish collected two assists and Niklas Backstrom made 28 saves for Minnesota, which has won nine of its last 12 road contests.

"We talked about this before the game, (Colorado) is a team that we need to keep behind us and get them further down," Parrish said. "And try to take as much wind out of their sails as we can. We play our division a lot coming down the stretch and they're all going to be big four-point games."

Marek Svatos netted his 13th tally, rookie Paul Stastny had a pair of assists and Budaj stopped 19 shots for the Avalanche, who have dropped seven of 11.

"They're a patient team, well-coached," Klee said. "They just outsmarted us. That's it. It wasn't that they were taking it to us. They were just waiting for us to make turnovers and they capitalized. They're a smart team. They know what they've got. They play a system and they stick with it."

"It was a pretty tight game," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said after extending his points streak to 10 games with an assist. "We made a couple bad changes in the second period. Going down three goals is obviously too much against a team like that. Unfortunately, we had a broken stick there on the fourth goal, and that was the difference. It's a tough team. They don't give you much."