Centers get workout with Koivu out

By KENT YOUNGBLOOD, Star Tribune

Last update: March 2, 2008 - 11:33 PM

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Sunday, for the third game in a row, Wild coach Jacques Lemaire went with a three-center rotation.

Only this time he had no choice.

Another case of the flu has robbed the Wild of a key player, Mikko Koivu. It also forced Lemaire to tinker with the three-center rotation he had used so effectively in victories over Tampa Bay and Florida.

In those two victories, Lemaire had gone with Koivu, Eric Belanger and rookie James Sheppard. Once Koivu is healthy, that rotation will return.

But Sunday, Lemaire had to move Pavol Demitra back to center, where he played most of the night with Mark Parrish and Marian Gaborik.

In recent games, Lemaire had tightened up the rotation, using Koivu, Sheppard and Belanger. That enabled Demitra to move back to wing -- his preferred position -- on a line with Koivu and Gaborik.

"The hardest part of it is playing with different guys [on different shifts], but you get used to it quickly," Belanger said. "But what's great is you're into the game so much. For us, you feel sharp the whole game. You're not thinking too much. If you have a bad shift, or make a bad play, you don't have as much time to think about it. You're right back on the ice to make something good out of it."

Lemaire was clearly happy with what he had seen. After the Wild's victory against Florida, he said Belanger was playing as well as he did to start the season and that Koivu's game had returned to the level it was at before his leg injury.

The key for Lemaire will be to keep his centers sharp without wearing them out.

"A lot of teams go with three lines, and then your fourth line will go out for six minutes or so," he said. "I feel we can manage that easy."

Perhaps the biggest beneficiary is Sheppard, who has seen his minutes grow significantly. He had 16:35 of playing time against Tampa Bay and 15:52 against Florida, the most minutes in back-to-back games this season.

Lemaire had to be confident in Sheppard's play to make this move.

"He can take the minutes. He's big, young, strong," Lemaire said. "It doesn't bother him."

In fact, it thrills him. When he was the designated fourth-line center, he had to make the most of his limited minutes.

Sheppard is on pace to break Pascal Dupuis' record for most games played by a Wild rookie (76 in 2001-02). After Sunday's game, Sheppard had appeared in 64 of a possible 66 games.

Home debut

Sunday's game was the first at Xcel Energy Center for Chris Simon since he was traded to the team last week.

Simon's history of suspensions made the move somewhat controversial, and he admitted Sunday morning that he was curious to see how the Wild fans would greet him.

"Of course it's in the back of my mind," said Simon, who wore a new uniform number, going from 16 to 11. "But I have to focus on the game. And once the game starts all of that stuff gets blocked out. ... I'm just excited to get out there and play hard."

There was very little reaction of any kind from the crowd when Simon took the ice for his first shift in the first period.

Etc.

• After missing three games because of the flu, Parrish returned to action. Petteri Nummelin also dressed and played at forward.

• Sean Hill, Aaron Voros and Matt Foy were healthy scratches.

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