Wild clinches first Northwest Division crown

Marian Gaborik scored two third-period goals as the Wild clinched their first Northwest Division title, assuring the team of home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Jacques Lemaire also earned his 500th career victory.

By MICHAEL RUSSO , Star Tribune

Last update: April 4, 2008 - 8:44 AM

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WILD 3, CALGARY 1

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The gut-wrenching, season-long battle for arguably the NHL's most competitive division crown has finally ended, and it belongs to the Wild.

With fans already pitching tents and snuggling in sleeping bags outside Xcel Energy Center in anticipation of playoff tickets going on sale Saturday morning, the Wild claimed the Northwest Division title for the first time Thursday night with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over the rival Calgary Flames.

Fittingly, it was the Wild's only original player, Marian Gaborik, scoring two third-period goals to break a 1-1 deadlock and send the sellout crowd into an absolute frenzy during the final 2 1/2 minutes.

"Those were two big goals, and to get it in a win and clinch the division with these two points, it's a great feeling for myself, for every guy in this room," said Gaborik, who also had an assist for his fifth multi-point game in his past eight. "It's a great accomplishment to have a banner up there."

The victory means the Wild, which ended a five-game losing streak to the Flames, claimed home-ice advantage in at least the first round, which comes to St. Paul next Wednesday or Thursday.

And, considering the Wild has won a season-high six in a row at the X, home ice is a precious thing.

"I'm really happy for these guys," said coach Jacques Lemaire, who won his 500th regular-season game to tie Toe Blake for 11th on the career list. "The guys, they work, and they deserve it. They can always say that they were part of this team."

Added defenseman Brent Burns, who made the crowd roar by fighting hard-nosed defenseman Dion Phaneuf after he elbowed Stephane Veilleux, "This was incredible. Pretty sweet to do it in front of our fans."

Behind the tremendous checking from Veilleux, Mikko Koivu and Branko Radivojevic, the Wild shut down Jarome Iginla, the career leading scorer against the Wild who was searching for his 50th goal but left with only an assist.

"That line was just great," Lemaire said.

With the score tied at 1-1 in the third after first-period goals by the Flames' Daymond Langkow and the Wild's Todd Fedoruk, Gaborik scored his franchise-record-tying eighth winning goal 1:11 in after taking Nick Schultz's headman pass, wheeling around Adrian Aucoin and whistling a wrist shot by Miikka Kiprusoff.

But then, controversy. Referee Chris Lee waved off a potential insurance marker three minutes later by Gaborik. Replays showed the puck was never covered, but according to NHL senior vice president Mike Murphy in an e-mail to the Star Tribune, "This is not a reviewable play. The play is considered dead once [Lee] thinks about blowing his whistle."

"I said, 'Oh no, it can't happen tonight. It just can't,'" Lemaire said.

But Lemaire credited Fedoruk and Chris Simon for keeping things cool. Fedoruk and Simon started screaming along the bench to stay calm.

"We just wanted to reinforce that we had a 2-1 lead and not to get distracted," Simon said. "It'd be easy to start pointing fingers, but we had a lot of work to do."

The Wild kept pressing, and after a Cory Sarich tripping penalty, Gaborik scored his 42nd goal from the slot.

"After the second period, I said, 'If Marian plays in the third, we'll win,'" Lemaire said. "He's capable of doing this: get a couple shots, and a couple goals."

Simon, who's won a Stanley Cup and been to two other Stanley Cup Finals with three teams, sees something special.

"We have all the right ingredients to go all the way," Simon said. "It takes a lot of hard work, but we have the guys in this room to do the work and sacrifice."

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