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Veilleux, Walz lift Wild over Sharks

Oct 22, 2006 - 5:14 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild responded well from their first loss of the season.

Stephane Veilleux and Wes Walz each scored a goal and added an assist as the Wild rebounded with a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.

Minnesota, which had its six-game win streak snapped in a 2-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, improved to 7-1-0. San Jose, which had its three-game unbeaten streak halted, fell to 6-2-0.

"It was obviously a huge win for our team," Walz said. "Anytime you go on the road, .500 is your goal. We did better than that. We talked about it before the game tonight and that was it."

"We had our chances," San Jose's Joe Thornton said. "They played last night and we wanted to jump on them, but obviously they came out and scored the first and second, and we were just behind all night. I thought we put a lot of pressure on them, but we just couldn't find the back of the net tonight."

Leading, 1-0, in the second period, Minnesota quickly took control as Veilleux and Walz each scored their first goals of the season just under four minutes apart to make it 3-0. Veilleux picked up a loose puck in the slot and snapped a shot past San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov at 6:41.

Walz upped the lead to 3-0 at 10:33 when he skated in front of the Sharks net and deflected Nick Schultz's shot from the point past Nabokov.

The goal was the 100th of Walz's career.

"It means something, of course, it only took me 17 years," Walz said. "I'll look back when I'm done. One hundred is a special number, I don't care what anyone says. Guys can downplay it but it's something that no one can ever take away from you. You scored 100 goals in the NHL. "Before I went to Europe six years ago, I didn't think that number was ever going to be attainable, let alone 50 or 60 more goals."

Brian Rolston and Mark Parrish also scored for the Wild, who went 0-for-4 on the power play and were outshot, 32-18. Goaltender Manny Fernandez made 31 saves.

Patrick Marleau scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who were blanked in four attempts with the extra skater. Nabokov recorded 14 saves.

According to Thornton, the Sharks learned a valuable lesson.

"Maybe we just took for granted that they played last night and were going to be a little tired, but in this league you can't take anything for granted," he said. "They played a good game tonight."

Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire was pleased with the way his club rebounded after suffering its first loss on Friday.

"I think we played as well as last night," he said. "We got a couple of breaks on goals and that's why we're on top."