Wild fans take note of 'unsung hero' Skoula

Like a middle reliever who gives up a bomb, Martin Skoula seems to get his name in the paper only when the red light turns on in the Wild end.

But Sunday, the maligned defenseman wound up front and center for making the acceptable red light flash, the one that signaled his first career overtime winner.

But forget for a second Skoula's feel-good moment against the Los Angeles Kings. The reality is that Skoula's been playing mostly sound hockey for seven weeks, highlighted by a masterful performance two games earlier at Tampa Bay.

"Guys like Skoula are valuable players, but they're kind of unsung heroes," General Manager Doug Risebrough said. "And you're always hoping that those guys can get a game like [Sunday] because people notice it. [Some] noticed the Tampa Bay game, but the fans noticed [Sunday].

"So I was glad he scored, I was glad to watch him do that parade [celebration] out of the zone. But he's doing a lot more than just scoring the overtime winner."

Skoula's strong effort against the Lightning can't be found in the boxscore. He didn't have a point; he wasn't a plus player. His contributions were subtle -- he had three hits and three blocked shots, saved offensive possessions at the blue line and negated forecheck after forecheck.

It was a far cry from the erratic Skoula of the past two Decembers. This season's lowlight came New Year's Eve against San Jose. With the crowd still celebrating Mark Parrish's tying goal late in the third, Skoula couldn't handle a bouncing puck and the Sharks scored the winner 10 seconds later.

But Skoula has improved dramatically since. Risebrough and Lemaire feel the benchings turned Skoula's season around.

"I don't know if it's the watching from above or the humiliation of getting out of the lineup, but you don't want to go back there, so you focus more, you work a little harder," Lemaire said.

Skoula rejects the notion that being removed from the lineup made any difference, saying: "That certainly didn't help me. I think I was playing well before that."

But Risebrough calls Skoula, 28, "a perplexing player." At 6-3, 226 pounds, Skoula can be a horse. Quite frankly, about the only time he gets knocked off his skates is when he slips on his own. Often, forwards just bounce off Skoula.

And in terms of experience, nobody's got more than the eight-year vet. Skoula's 627 games are the most of any NHL defenseman born in 1979 or later, which he says helps him "read the game better."

"Early in the year, he was struggling to get confidence," Risebrough said. "This year almost paralleled last year, but last year was 25 games and this year was half a year. He's perplexing in that he can be so good, but he struggles at times.

"So once he gets there, he's good. But it takes a while for him to get there."

Skoula's says he feels "pretty good." But don't expect him to make too many more red lights flash -- hopefully in either end.