A season on the brink turns around

On Thursday night, a season of discontent became a season of superlatives.

The Wild's 3-1 decision over Calgary at the X gave Minnesota its first division title in franchise history and coach Jacques Lemaire his 500th victory. Marian Gaborik scored two goals to extend his team record for points in a season and Niklas Backstrom added to his record for goalie victories. Noted pugilist Battlin' Brent Burns already had the record for points by a defenseman.

Amid the amassing of individual achievements, the Wild reached its team goal -- winning the Northwest Division and surging toward the playoffs just when it seemed the coach was sick of the players, the players were sick of the coach, and everyone was sick of the front office.

By the end of the game, Lemaire was high-fiving everyone on the bench. "It was all pretty incredible," Burns said.

Which is a good word for this team's transformation. On Feb. 26, the Wild acquired Chris Simon and nobody else at the trading deadline, then played like dogs in a 4-1 loss to Washington.

In early March, the Wild went five games without a victory, including a 3-2 loss at Carolina on March 6 during which Gaborik was benched.

Gaborik didn't even participate in a third period power play that could have tied the score, and he made his displeasure clear. That night, Lemaire said he needed more out of Gaborik and sparred with reporters by pointing toward the locker room and saying, "That's a good question for the second door on your right."

The next day, Lemaire accused his players of "cheating" the team and the game with mediocre effort.

Thursday, Wild defenseman Nick Schultz said Lemaire was even more pointed in the locker room that night.

"In Carolina, that was probably the first time I've ever seen him lose his cool and get pretty upset," Schultz said. "He can get pretty fiery, but that was probably the worst I've seen him, and it was kind of a wake-up call for all of us guys, that this was a big time of the year and it was a big time for us to get our game back and get going in the right direction."

How does Lemaire deliver an acerbic sermon? In English? In French? With extra salt?

"Ahhhh, yeah," Schultz said. "Some of it you could understand, some of it you couldn't. But it's good. I think teams need that every once in a while, a kick in the butt to get going."

Thursday, the Wild played like it has for a month, shutting down nemesis Jarome Iginla, combining physical play with deft passing, and getting another routinely spectacular multi-point game from Gaborik.

Gabby flies around like everyone else is skating in mud, which is one way of describing how the Wild was playing not long ago.

"I guess it was so bad we had to go the other way," Schultz said.

Lemaire's reputation and résumé probably will earn him much of the credit for the turnaround, and maybe his bilingual assault on his players' ears worked. Too often, though, we treat professional athletes as lumps of clay molded by authority figures.

Whatever prodding they received, the Wild's best players made this happen. Brian Rolston, Mikko Koivu, Burns and Gaborik, among others, have been spectacular from end to end, and checkers such as Branko Radivojevic and Stephane Veilluex have elevated their games. Thursday, even The Fridge, Todd Fedoruk, manuevered as if he had borrowed Gaborik's skates.

"I think collectively in the room, we knew the situation we were in," Schultz said. "I think Brian, Hilly [defenseman Sean Hill] and Carnes [defenseman Keith Carney], these older guys who have been around, kept the group calm and made sure that we knew we were a good team in here. Those veteran voices helped out."

Some teams wilt after the trading deadline, some become galvanized. The Wild tried the former, then the latter.

"Maybe that's why we went through that stretch there for a while," Schultz said. "Guys were maybe a little upset that we didn't add a center or a defenseman, another player to help. I think once we realized we weren't going to get the center or whatever we were looking for, we realized it was the guys in here, and that these guys can do it."

It helps when Gaborik is one of those guys.

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. jsouhan@startribune.com