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Second-period flurry fuels Wild

Jan 31, 2008 - 4:22 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Three goals in less than two minutes helped the Minnesota Wild come out strong after the All-Star break.

Brian Rolston, Marian Gaborik and Mikko Koivu scored just 1:58 apart early in the second period and Niklas Backstrom made 20 saves as Minnesota cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday in each team's first game after the midseason gala.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and James Sheppard also scored for the Wild, who earned their third win in the last four games.

Corey Perry tallied for Anaheim, which suffered its fourth straight loss.

After a scoreless first period, Minnesota did not take long to get going in the second.

Rolston, who has goals in four straight games, opened the scoring just 82 seconds into the session. After skating into the offensive zone, settled the puck near the right faceoff circle and blasted a slap shot past goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"Well, the Rolston shot seemed to turn the tide, and everything went against us at that point pretty much forward," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.

Gaborik, who scored in Sunday's All-Star Game, doubled the Wild's advantage 38 seconds later. The Slovakian drove to the net and wristed the puck by Giguere for his 26th goal of the season.

"It gives us a lot of confidence when we score back-to-back," Rolston said of the flurry. "To get opportunities, obviously we had around 21 shots. It's a tight-checking game against a team like that, and we know that. And we know if we can get up on them, we'll have a leg up, so to speak."

Koivu increased Minnesota's bulge to three just 78 seconds later, ending Giguere's night in the process. The Finn accepted a centering feed from Pavol Demitra and one-timed it past Giguere, who was out of position.

"He's a great goaltender and I don't know if they were on top of their game, but I thought we were really on top of our game," Rolston said. "Our skill players played well. Not only offensively, but they did a great job defensively, which is what we are going to have to do in order to be successful."

Giguere, who stopped eight of 11 shots, was replaced by Jonas Hiller. The Swiss rookie finished with 10 saves.

"The goalies have got to do a better job," Giguere admitted. "As a team, too, we have to do a better job. We've got to make sure that as a unit of six guys on the ice, after we give a goal, whether it's a good (or) bad goal or bad bounce or whatever it is, we've got to make sure we don't give another one right away. (We need to) keep ourselves in the game and not throw our heads down and be discouraged.

"I'm mad that we have lost four in a row. It starts with me. I have got to do a better job and make sure that I give my team a chance to win."

Perry, who also took part in the All-Star Game, got Anaheim on the board at 9:40 of the second. Controlling the puck along the side boards, he and Chris Kunitz traded passes before Perry beat Backstrom for his 27th of the season.

Bouchard scored on a breakaway with just 4.5 seconds remaining in the second period to give Minnesota a 4-1 advantage.

Rolston grabbed a loose puck in the defensive zone and fed Bouchard, who had just come onto the ice on a line change. Bouchard wristed the puck past Hiller for his 11th of the campaign.

"Obviously not the way you want to start or end periods," Anaheim captain Chris Pronger said. "Especially as big as these games are coming down the stretch here in the last 30 games of the season. We've got to put in better performances than that."

Sheppard capped the scoring by batting the puck out of mid-air and into the net with 44 seconds remaining.

"I don't get too excited when we win a game because we've been up and down," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "I'd like to see our team go on a seven- or eight-game winning streak. That would be great. I know that's hard to do because of the hard teams we are playing."