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Wild extend home winning streak to six games

Oct 26, 2006 - 2:43 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Brian Rolston is on a roll and the Los Angeles Kings didn't seem inclined to get in his way.

Rolston scored a pair of goals to spark the Minnesota Wild to a 3-1 victory over the Kings.

Todd White had a goal and two assists and Pierre-Marc Bouchard added three assists as the Wild (8-1-0) won their sixth straight home game to start the season.

"White did a great job with with Bouchard and Rollie (Roloson)," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "All three, they were probably the best forwards we had."

The team captain, Rolston has scored six goals in his last five games. His timing couldn't be better since Minnesota is without star right wing Marian Gaborik, who is out with a mild groin strain.

"I thought we played well tonight," Rolston said. "(Bouchard) was really good tonight. I got both my goals going to the net and getting rebounds. We need ugly goals like that."

Rolston won't often score a pair of easier goals. On both his tallies, he was left uncontested in front of the net and had Kings goaltender Dan Cloutier at his mercy.

At the 13:02 mark of the first period, Rolston was parked just outside the crease when he pounced on the rebound of White's shot and fired it into an open net for a 1-0 lead.

He doubled the advantage in the second period with a near-identical goal. Standing all alone on Cloutier's doorstep, he got a stick on White's hard blast, then took two whacks at the rebound and stuffed it in at 8:34 for his eighth tally of the season.

"I feel as confident as I ever have in my career. I'm playing with some good players that are making me better as well," Rolston said. "When you go to the net, someone has to come with me, and when [Bouchard] and White have the puck, they do so much.

"The rebounds just came out on my stick and the goalie was down and out on both of them."

Manny Fernandez made 35 saves to improve to 7-1-0 overall on the season and 5-0-0 at the Xcel Energy Center, where he has allowed just four goals in his past four games.

White boosted the margin to three goals with a power-play tally at 14:58 of the second session.

Brian Willsie denied Fernandez the shutout with a goal midway through the third period for the Kings, who outshot the Wild, 17-6, in the final session.

(The Wild) are a lot different than they used to be," Cloutier said. "They have more offense this year and they're going for it more. Obviously they have some great shooters. They have great puck-moving defensemen. It looks like they are playing real well.

"I thought we outplayed them in the third period, which is something we can build on as a team."