Wild gets to Giguere big-time in victory

Minnesota got the Ducks goalie's goat by knocking him out of the game with a four-goal second period.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: January 30, 2008 - 11:31 PM

Artiste Jean-Sebastien Giguere has made Xcel Energy Center his own personal canvas since arriving on the scene to torment the Wild.

A .934 save percentage. A 2.00 goals-against average. And that doesn't include his two shutouts during the 2003 conference finals.

Wednesday night, though, the Anaheim Ducks goalie treated the Wild's home like his own personal Jerry Springer set.

First Giguere smashed his stick over the post. Then he marched to the bench, threw that same stick and punched a water bottle before falling into a stupor for the remainder of the Wild's 5-1 rout.

"I guess maybe that first goal by Roli played in his mind," said Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who assisted on that Brian Rolston bomb and scored a breakaway goal against fill-in Jonas Hiller.

Bouchard's goal capped a four-goal second period. "After Roli's goal, we just kept going," Bouchard said. "It feels good to beat [Giguere]."

The Wild, which took three of four from the Ducks to close the season series, provoked Giguere's tantrum by turning a scoreless first-intermission tie into a 3-zip siege by 3 minutes, 18 seconds of the second period. Rolston, Marian Gaborik and Mikko Koivu scored 1:56 apart to send Giguere to the loneliest spot on the bench.

"The goals weren't easy to save, but I'm getting paid to make those saves," said Giguere, who's been chased by the Wild in three of his past nine starts.

Rolston's fourth goal in four games -- a rising shot that abruptly dropped -- deflected off defenseman Francois Beauchemin's stick above the circle and fooled Giguere so badly he actually ducked. The puck popped the water bottle, and the onslaught was on.

Thirty-eight seconds later, Gaborik used Pavol Demitra as a decoy to score off a 2-on-1, a shot that deflected off the post, off Giguere's back and in. Seventy-eight seconds later, Giguere came way out to defend Demitra, so Demitra fed Koivu for a one-timer.

"We did the right things from the beginning," said Gaborik, who has a 14-game home point streak (13 goals, four winning goals and 23 points). "We got a couple goals right away in the second and just took off from there. I think winning two out of three on the road was important."

Niklas Backstrom made 20 saves to improve to 26-5-5 in his career at home with a 1.74 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. Since the start of 2006-07, no NHL goalie has a better home goals-against average and save percentage.

Wednesday, the Wild, which got a late goal from rookie James Sheppard, did a solid job in its own end limiting Anaheim's time and space.

"Guys made it easy for me," Backstrom said. "I saw the pucks. They didn't have one-timers or time to get real good shots. Our guys were all over them all the time."

The defensemen were also physical, especially captain Nick Schultz, who floored Brad May and got into a jostling duel with May's fellow tough guy, George Parros, when they came within sniffing distance of Backstrom.

"We needed to play hard," Schultz said. "That's the way they play. They come at you and come at the net."

The Wild has won three of four, but coach Jacques Lemaire isn't jovial yet.

"We've been up and down. I'd love our team to go on a seven-, eight-game winning streak. That would be great," Lemaire said.

StarTribune.com

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