Wild now is on the hunt for scorers

Now that Marian Gaborik is going to have surgery, the team looks for other players to step up offensively.

By BRIAN STENSAAS, Star Tribune

Last update: January 3, 2009 - 11:43 PM

Though Marian Gaborik has missed most of this season anyway for the Wild, news that he will miss as long as 14 weeks after electing to have hip surgery has hit home with the team.

The Wild’s final regular-season game this season is 13 weeks and five days after the surgery, scheduled for Monday.

“It’s disappointing for us because he’s a huge part of our team and he played well when he was with us,” second-year center James Sheppard said. “We just feel bad for him, because he loves to play hockey and we’d love to have him back.”

That’s not happening any time soon — if at all — meaning that a team yet again in a scoring slump will have to continue to find goals elsewhere

It’s something that’s been talked about the entire year. Gaborik on Saturday night missed his 31st game of the season out of 37 games for the Wild.

The pressure is on to find scoring from other outlets. On Saturday, no one with the Wild was ready to give up on that.

“The thing is, we have to focus with the guys we have, which we did since the start of the season,” coach Jacques Lemaire said. “You focus with the guys that are in the dressing room and you gotta play with those guys, make them play as good as possible.”

Minnesota is coming off a 4-9-1 December and heading into Saturday’s game with Detroit had 92 goals for the season. Only Nashville (91) had scored fewer in the Western Conference. Minnesota’s 2.47-goals-per-game average is 26th in the NHL.

“I think it’s a confidence thing,” center Eric Belanger said. “If the team feels confident, we’re going to score some goals.”

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