wild/nhl

Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra have the ability to do a lot of things on the ice, including send Wild coach Jacques Lemaire to the hospital nightly with a cardiac arrest or two.

"Like you said, they were great on the offense," a relieved Lemaire said after Saturday night's 5-4, hold-on-for-dear-life victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. "They made good plays, they used their speed, they got great chances. I appreciate that."

And that, alone.

The reality is Lemaire may need to learn to take the good with the bad if Gaborik and Demitra are going to be the Wild's much-advertised, long-awaited 1-2 punch these final 25 games and perhaps into the postseason.

Gaborik and Demitra are rare dynamic offensive talents, and sometimes that means risks that could result in defensive chances. That was certainly the case Saturday.

Other than the lockout when they combined for 134 points together in Trencin, this is the first season the Sensational Slovaks have played full time together, and that was derailed for 34 games during Gaborik's 11-week groin injury.

Finally on the same line in recent games, Gaborik and Demitra have shown an offensive chemistry akin to the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka and Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. And those twosomes have been tandems for years.

In just 23 games, Gaborik is already tied with Mark Parrish for second on the team with 16 goals. He leads the NHL with 0.7 goals per game, on pace of 57 over an 82-game season.

"Every single game Gabby and me play together, we get a lot of chances and can score a lot of goals," said Demitra, who has 10 points in his past six games, including three game-winning goals. "I know what Gabby can do. With his speed and his skills, he can score goals.

"Because they watch him so hard, it opens up ice for everybody else. It's an easy game for me if I handle the puck, I can find other guys or find him."

Against the Hurricanes, Gaborik and Demitra combined for six points with Demitra assisting on both of Gaborik's goals and Gaborik assisting on Demitra's.

Gaborik scored on successive first-period power plays. On the first, Gaborik flew into the offensive zone between two defensemen on the forecheck before passing around the net to Demitra. He centered a blind pass to Parrish in front, who found Gaborik five feet to his left.

On Gaborik's second goal, he impressively skated into traffic to gather Kurtis Foster's rebound. He then whizzed a pass in traffic to Demitra, who quickly sent it back to the point for Petteri Nummelin. Nummelin made an adept pass to Gaborik for the easy goal.

In the third period, Demitra flipped a puck from the neutral zone over defenseman Mike Commodore so Gaborik could chase it down. He did and sent it back to Demitra for the goal. This flip pass into open ice for Gaborik to run down is something Demitra has attempted often lately.

"Because I know he'll catch up to the puck," Demitra said.

Said Gaborik, "Pav's a great playmaker. He knows when I'm going, and he uses that flip pass there and that little give-and-go and it's working. We started the season well together (15 points in seven games). Then I got hurt, and I think that was hard for Pav."

But since Gaborik's Jan. 6 return, Gaborik has 12 goals and 18 points in 16 games. Over the same span, Demitra has 14 points in 15 games.

"It's fun to watch," Parrish said. "As a teammate, if those two are flying, they're going to carry us a long ways and win a lot of games for us, just the two of them. I'm excited as the fans to see what they can do in the playoffs. God only knows if they keep playing like this."