Team captain leads the way when called on to take over

By KENT YOUNGBLOOD and MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: April 3, 2008 - 11:32 PM

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Through two periods everything was tight, tied. The hockey was so closely checked it seemed hardly anyone could breathe. Wild coach Jacques Lemaire knew what had to happen.

"I said, 'Marian plays in the third, we'll win,''' Lemaire said after both had happened in a 3-1 division-clinching victory over Calgary at Xcel Energy Center. "He is capable of doing this."

A little more than a month ago Lemaire and the coaching staff made Marian Gaborik the team captain for the first time in his career; the last member of the original Wild finally took his turn.

Here's how he responded: By racking up five multiple-point games in his past eight. By scoring two goals in each of the past two games. By coming out Thursday and scoring twice to lead his team into the playoffs as a No. 3 seed.

"It was a tough month, a critical time," Gaborik said, talking about his first four weeks wearing the 'C.' "A lot of responsibility comes with this. I'm glad things turned out like this, happy and proud I can be captain for this team right now."

And Gaborik is winning games. The score was 1-1 barely a minute into the third period when the puck came Gaborik's way as he neared the Calgary blue line. Flames defenseman Adrian Aucoin stepped up and tried to play the puck, but Gaborik poked it past him, then blew past him. Moments later his wrist shot beat Miikka Kiprusoff inside the right post for a 2-1 lead 1:11 into the third.

Then, 12 minutes later on the power play, Gaborik scored his 42nd goal of the season for some insurance.

The Wild will need more.

"If we want to do well in the playoffs, he's the guy who has to play. He has to be at his maximum," Lemaire said of Gaborik. "He's learning a lot about being the captain, and I think it will be great for him.''

Mixing it up

The crowd loved Brent Burns' fight Thursday. Lemaire did not.

Lemaire is starting to get concerned with Burns' willingness to fight, which he did for the second time in three games after Dion Phaneuf elbowed Stephane Veilleux.

"I didn't like that at all,'' Lemaire said. "This is our top defenseman. And he goes into a fight, he breaks his hand, whoops, what do we have left? That's what I'm thinking.''

Said Burns, "It's an emotional game. I definitely don't like it. It's not my way. It's not fun to do it all the time, but sometimes it happens."

Burns made the crowd roar after downing Phaneuf with three roundhouse rights.

"I was just happy to be standing, still,'' said Burns, who high-fived fans down the runway after the fight. "My arm was caught for pretty much the whole thing, and I couldn't get it out. I was just trying to survive and keep my head out of the way.''

Foster goes home

Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster, who broke his femur March 19, was finally discharged from a St. Louis Park hospital to begin the four- to eight-month recovery.

"It's so nice to be out of the hospital, and now the therapy just comes to me," Foster said.

It was a difficult couple of days for several Wild teammates who visited Foster at the hospital.

"He wasn't even able to lift his leg up, and if you saw his shin bone, he's losing muscle," Burns said. "But that dude will get back. I know he will."

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