• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Burns' shootout tally lifts Wild over Blues

Feb 11, 2008 - 3:57 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Two days, two extra sessions and two times defenseman Brent Burns plays the hero for the Minnesota Wild.

Burns scored in the sixth round of a shootout to lead the Wild to a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

"He's been hot ... I guess we made the right choice," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said of Burns. "He made us look good."

All-Star Marian Gaborik scored the lone goal in regulation for Minnesota (32-20-4), which increased its lead over idle Colorado (30-21-5) to three points in the ultra-competitive Northwest Division.

Burns, who scored the overtime winner in Saturday's 4-3 win over the New York Islanders, was the sixth player to skate for the Wild in the shootout. The 22-year-old blue-liner raced in on Manny Legace before pausing, causing the goaltender to commit into a butterfly stance. Burns then deposited the puck in the vacated left side of the net.

"I hate those stops, once they put the breaks on. They should have to keep moving forward," Legace said. "But he put on a great move."

"I saw Ryan Getzlaf do it in the (video game) commercial and just tried not to fall," Burns said about his first career shootout attempt, referring to the Anaheim Ducks All-Star and former Canada World Juniors teammate. "I think Mario (Tremblay, Minnesota assistant coach) was arguing for me. It's nice to chip in - it doesn't happen a lot."

Netminder Josh Harding made the goal stand up, stopping 5-of-6 attempts on the shootout. Lee Stempniak's final attempt sailed over the net high on the glove side to seal the win for Minnesota.

"I knew that if I could make a couple of stops that we're a talented enough team to get a goal," Harding said after winning for the second time this season in three shootouts - all on the road. Both wins have come against All-Star goaltenders as he beat Detroit's Chris Osgood on January 10.

Gaborik nearly made the shootout unnecessary when he charged toward Legace on a breakaway late in the overtime. His shot seemed to nestle under Legace's left pad, which drifted over the line, but replays could not confirm the puck crossed the line.

It was Gaborik's 29th goal of the season, with a wrist shot over the glove of Legace from the top of the left faceoff circle, that opened the scoring at 5:21 in the first period.

The Blues' league-worst power play leveled the contest on Paul Kariya's 14th goal of the season at 12:53. Andy McDonald collected a rebound of his own sharp-angle shot from the right side and fed the puck across the crease to an unmarked Kariya, who tapped it between Harding's right skate and the post.

"It's tough when a game like this doesn't go your way," Kariya said. "We were in pretty good position to make the playoffs a month ago. There is no excuse for the way we've been playing."

Legace, one night after playing 28 minutes in relief of backup Hannu Toivonen, turned aside 24 shots in regulation and overtime to help the Blues to their first point in four contests.

"We've seen a lot of style, now, it's time for some substance," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said.

Harding, seeing his first action since January 22, made 20 saves in regulation and overtime.

"I think it's just like riding a bike. We're still doing the same things we've done all our lives," Harding said. "After the first period, I got most of the rust off. As the game went on, I felt more comfortable."