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Koivu, Rolston lead Wild to shootout victory

Dec 8, 2006 - 4:32 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- After giving the Minnesota Wild an early lead, Mikko Koivu and Brian Rolston finished off the Calgary Flames in a shootout.

Koivu and Rolston each tallied in regulation before scoring in the shootout as the Wild posted a 3-2 victory over the Flames.

Rolston scored in the first round of the shootout by skating in and blasting a slap shot past goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

"I don't want to take a slap shot every time in the shootout," Rolston said. "Who knows when the next time we'll see what happen? Maybe I have them guessing a little bit. Kiprusoff was out, and when you shoot that hard, if you miss them, it's probably going in. When you shoot it hard, it's hard for them to move that quick."

After Byron Ritchie scored on Calgary's second chance to even things, Koivu tallied when he put a backhander by the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.

"I just try to think about the goalie first and how he plays the game," Koivu said. "I then make the decision how to score and which move to make."

"Koivu did it perfect," Kiprusoff said. "He hit the crossbar and put it in. It's a pretty nice move."

Manny Fernandez denied Kristian Huselius to seal Minnesota's seventh win in nine shootouts this season.

"Getting two points, no question, that is really good," Rolston said. "Two points at home is good. Now we have to bring it on the road."

Koivu scored a power-play goal with 5:17 left in the first period before Rolston followed with his own man-advantage tally less than two minutes later, staking the Wild to a 2-0 lead.

Defenseman Rhett Warrener scored a shorthanded goal four minutes into the second session to cut the lead to 2-1 before Jarome Iginla netted his 300th career goal two minutes later to forge a tie. Calgary's captain has scored in each of his last four games.

"Getting a point is important," Iginla said. "You get down 2-0 on the road and you fight back. You obviously want more than an overtime loss, but when you get into a shootout, it's anyone's game. We made some pretty good moves on both sides. That's the way it goes."

Fernandez made 38 saves for the Wild, while Kiprusoff stopped 25 shots for the Flames, who have lost four straight on the road.

"I think we should have had more traffic in front of Fernandez," Flames coach Jim Playfair said. "I thought we had a lot of shots and had some good scoring chances, but I think in a game like this, with a team like this, you have to put everything on net and make sure you've got traffic going to the net for the rebound. I didn't think we had enough rebound shots, as opposed to initial shots."

The contest was marred with penalties as each team was called for nine infractions, including two on Fernandez.

"I felt pretty good tonight," Fernandez said. "Energy-wise, I was right up there. The referees really got me frustrated and I know the rest of the team felt the same. However, we regained a little bit of energy and went after it a little bit."