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Gaborik's goal in OT keeps Wild unbeaten

Oct 19, 2006 - 5:25 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild are still perfect.

Marian Gaborik scored 25 seconds into overtime to lift the Wild to a 2-1 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Kings.

Minnesota and Buffalo, both with 6-0-0 records, are the only remaining undefeated teams in the NHL.

Gaborik took a pass from Pavol Demitra and streaked in on goaltender Dan Cloutier with Sean Avery draped all over him. Gaborik kicked the puck to his stick at the last instant and shoveled the puck past Cloutier for the winning goal.

"We tried to work the give-and-go and it worked out perfectly," Gaborik said. "But they played well against our line, we didn't have much going."

The victory was an especially meaningful one for Demitra, who played for the Kings last season.

"It was a little different, I have a lot of friends here. They have great fans and I had a lot of fun playing in LA," he said. "The play that resulted in the game-winner is what we do every day in practice. We had a couple of chances in the last five minutes, and it's a great feeling to win."

Minnesota took a 1-0 lead at 10:09 of the first period on Brian Rolston's fifth goal. Rolston tallied when he jammed a rebound past Cloutier.

"I've just been in the right place at the right time," Rolston said. "Things have been going great for us, and my scoring is just a function of the team's overall play."

Los Angeles tied the game, 1-1, just over eight minutes later as Patrick O'Sullivan scored his first NHL goal when his shot squirted past Minnesota netminder Manny Fernandez.

"I'm happy, if nothing more than to get it out of the way," said O'Sullivan, who was drafted by the Wild in the second round in 2003. "I'm feeling more confident with every game I play."

The Kings (2-4-0), losers of four straight, continued to struggle on the power play in going 0-for-6. Los Angeles is just 5-for-59 (8.4 percent) with the extra man this season.

Minnesota also was blanked with the extra skater, but is still 10-for-36 (27.8 percent) this season.

Los Angeles tries to regroup when it faces the Phoenix Coyotes in its first road game of the season on Thursday.

"We played much better tonight, but at the end it was still 2-1," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "I know I keep preaching patience, patience, patience, but we have a young group of forwards that are still learning. Defensively, we don't give up many good chances but we still need to put the puck in the net.

"What we have to do is keep having the effort we are having and there were a lot of good signs tonight with our effort and how we're trying to play. Now we have to convert on some of these chances we're getting. We are really getting good quality chances, and if you keep that work ethic up, then things will start turning around."