OT goal is worth its wait

Martin Skoula flicked a centering pass on net, then paused before kicking the celebration into overdrive when the victory was confirmed.

By KENT YOUNGBLOOD, Star Tribune

Last update: March 4, 2008 - 12:17 AM

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WILD 2, LOS ANGELES 1 (OT)

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For a moment, Martin Skoula froze.

Was it in? Where was the whistle? Could this be true?

Yes.

The puck was in, the game was over. And there was Skoula, in front of the Los Angeles Kings net, about to celebrate in earnest after scoring his first NHL overtime goal, which gave the Wild a 2-1 victory at Xcel Energy Center.

Improbable? It was Skoula's third goal of the season and only his fourth in 145 games since joining the Wild during the 2005-06 season. And here's how it all went:

Pavol Demitra won the faceoff in the Kings' end. The puck came to Skoula, who controlled the puck, then skated toward the top of the slot. He passed the puck into the right corner to Marian Gaborik and then went to the front of the net. Gaborik skated out of the corner, sent a perfect pass to Skoula, who swept the puck between Erik Ersberg's pads with 1:15 left in the extra session.

Each of the Wild's past seven victories have come by one goal, a franchise record. So why should Sunday be any different?

Well, the Kings were in last place in the Western Conference and had been giving up goals by the truckload. They had played the night before in Colorado and made it into the Twin Cities rather late. And in a season in which Kings coach Marc Crawford has been playing musical goaltenders, Ersberg was making his first NHL start.

Even Wild coach Jacques Lemaire dared hope for a little less tension.

"We felt we had a great chance to maybe get an easier game," Lemaire said. "Not an easy game, but easier than usual. ... And then [the Kings] come out with more energy than we did. It wasn't easy."

No, it wasn't. Had Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom (27 saves) not been outstanding in the first period the Kings might have grabbed a three-goal lead rather than that 1-0 edge that came thanks to Mike Cammalleri's bad-angle goal off Backstrom's pads.

Marian Gaborik tied the score 4:59 into the second period when, on a delayed penalty, he tipped Brent Burns' shot from the point over Ersberg.

It didn't help the Wild that center Mikko Koivu was a late scratch because of the flu. Still, despite outshooting the Kings, Lemaire didn't think his team had played well. Regulation ended with the Wild scrambling to kill a late penalty on Branko Radivojevic, the sixth kill of the evening for the Wild.

But the momentum was about to turn. Maybe, finally, the Kings tired. But the Wild dominated the overtime action. Finally, it was Skoula time.

"We won the faceoff," he said. "I couldn't shoot it, so I looked for the forward, Gabby. And he made a great pass to get it in front of the net."

As a result the Wild took a two-point lead over Calgary in the Northwest Division and Gaborik started off his first month as captain with a victory. It might not have come easily, but it was dramatic. And Skoula's game-winner had pushed the Wild into a tie with Atlanta for the most one-goal victories this season. The Wild is 21-6-5 in such games.

"At first I didn't see it," Skoula said. "I thought [Ersberg] had it. Then I saw it kind of bounce in the back of the net."