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Koivu leads Wild to 10th straight home victory

Oct 28, 2006 - 3:17 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Mikko Koivu took advantage of some extra time to help maintain the Minnesota Wild's home-ice dominance.

Koivu scored the shootout clincher and Brian Rolston netted his ninth goal to lead the Wild to their seventh home win in as many tries this season, a 3-2 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks.

In winning for the ninth time in 10 contests in 2005-2006, Minnesota extended its regular-season home winning streak to 10 dating to last season by avenging its lone loss, a 2-1 defeat to Anaheim last Friday.

"This game could have gone either way," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "I wish we could have scored more goals. We're home. The crowd was good. We would have showed the team is very strong."

"It is (nice to avenge the earlier loss), but that team hasn't lost in regulation yet," Rolston said. "That's a tough team over there and a good barometer, measuring stick to see where we are."

After Minnesota goaltender Manny Fernandez made a pad save on Ryan Getzlaf in the second round of the shootout, Koivu beat netmimnder Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the glove side.

"It's fun to go in there and fun to score," Koivu said. "It's good to get the point. But it's such a small part of the game. I don't want to get them all like that. It's been three so far. That's not a lot, to be honest, but we have to keep playing like this and playing hard every night."

"(Koivu) brings you to your right and then brings it to his backhand and moves to the left side," Giguere said. "You have to make sure you don't cheat when he comes down. It's a nice move, but hopefully next time, I'll remember."

Teemu Selanne had a final opportunity to extend the the shootout, but he missed the net, which ended Anaheim's four-game winning streak. However, the Ducks remained the lone Western Conference team without a regulation loss.

"We worked hard to get that one point," Giguere said. "It was a hard battle. At the end of the day, we didn't lose a point. We just gained one. We have to be satisfied with the effort we put in. We were on the road and got a point out of it."

Trailing 2-1, Anaheim tied the score at 3:53 of the third period when Chris Kunitz fired a blast from the right faceoff circle over Fernandez's right shoulder for his fifth tally of the season.

Coming off a two-goal outing against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, Rolston is second in the league in tallies, trailing Atlanta's Marian Hossa and Buffalo's Chris Drury, who have 10 each.

Rolston broke a 1-1 tie with 2:44 remaining in the middle session with a slapshot from the left circle that beat Giguere to the stick side.

"They chipped it behind the net and Mikko stole it," Rolston said. "I was going for a change. Actually, I was going to the bench, but I got in a good seam as soon as I saw him steal it and I got pretty good wood on it."

Anaheim opened the scoring at 6:28 of the first period when Dustin Penner picked up a loose puck at the right corner, skated toward the goal and made a quick pass to Andy McDonald, who beat Fernandez for his third of the season.

"The thing I've noticed about Minnesota is how tight they play defensively in their own zone and the neutral zone," McDonald said. "They certainly don't give you many chances. We know they don't give up very much."

Minnesota evened the game with 4:50 remaining in the opening session as Todd White found defenseman Nick Schultz for his first tally of the campaign, a one-timer from the slot that went between Giguere's pads.

Fernandez, who entered with a league-leading 1.53 goals-against average, raised his record to 8-1-0 by making 32 saves for Minnesota.

"Shootouts are really a bonus," Fernandez said. "I go in not thinking at all and hope for the best. I keep focus. I go out and come back with them as much as I can so I don't get deked out of my pants and I try to make a big save."

A former Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Giguere stopped 31 shots for the Ducks, who failed in their bid to win their first three road games of a season and fell to 7-0-3.

"I thought it was a pretty good game for goalies," Giguere said. "A lot of shots. It was easy to stay in the game. Manny played well. He had a good shootout. All in all, it was a goalie's game."