I got an email from a reader that sent me this NY Times blog link and asked if I’d ask Gaborik about it.

It’s pretty cool footage. Fast fwd a bit.

Gaborik on Thursday morning: “Reminds me when I played. When our line scored, all three guys would go canoeing on the ice. Celebration’s are different there. It’s for the fans. Also, the fans, it’s usual for the fans to chant the whole game. It’s more fun that way.”

Postgame comments:

First of all, here’s a TSN link with highlights (click on the right of the page) of the Wild’s 6-3 win over my brother’s favorite team.

How special was this night? Gaborik’s performance led ESPN’s SportsCenter, which as we all know, doesn’t happen to the NHL everyday in the States.

Just a spectacular night here at the X. The only thing most amazing about Marian Gaborik’s magical five-goal night over the Blueshirts was he didn’t score six or seven.

Wild teammates were trying, that’s for sure.

If you gave up your tickets, you only missed the most goals by a player in an NHL game in more than a decade (Sergei Fedorov vs. Washington in Dec. 1996).

I once gave up tickets to an Al Leiter no-hitter and have regretted it ever since. Sorry, had to rub it in.

As Mark Parrish said to me behind the locker room: “Shades of the Russian Rocket. Shades of the Russian Rocket.”

Parrish knew the dynamic Pavel Bure, who scored 58 and 59 goals in Florida, only scored four goals in a game in Florida and not five for one big reason. Parrish and Bure share the Florida record with four goals in a game.

But, Bure did score five memorable goals once — in the 1998 Olympics semifinals for Russia in a 7-4 win over Finland. And here’s the thing: In the irony of all ironies, one of Gaborik’s buddies emailed him a YouTube clip Thursday of Bure’s five-goal performance. Gaborik joked to his friend, “I’ve got to get five goals tonight.”

This guy called his shot! He’s Babe Ruth!

Gaborik was simply sensational tonight. Most amazing was the clutchness of the goals.

Goal #1: Less than three minutes after the Rangers make it 1-0, Aaron Voros’ suffocating forecheck springs Pavol Demitra and Gaborik for a quick 2-on-1 and goal out of nowhere for a tie score.

Goal #2: Late in a second period power play, Gaborik bats his own rebound out of the air.

Goal #3: Less than two minutes after, and after Brent Burns drew a retaliatory penalty for his clobbering of Petr Prucha, Gaborik drives the net and scores in highlight-reel fashion on a backhanded sky shot. After the natural hat trick, Gaborik excitedly waved his tonque.

Goal #4: Some defenseman you all love slipped on a banana peel and Nigel Dawes cut the deficit to 4-3. There was even time for anybody to get tense and think, “Holy moly, they may blow it!” Just 41 seconds after Martin Skoula’s self-described “screw up,” Gaborik bailed his teammate out.

Goal #5: Stereotypical high-speed Gaborik breakaway.

As my pal from the NY Daily News, John Dellapina joked after the game, “I’d let the Rangers off the hook. They haven’t been here in four years. They forgot how good Gaborik is.”

Brendan Shanahan, who spent years in Detroit, didn’t, saying, “We ran into a world-class hockey player who had the game of his life. I’ve seen a lot of him and he’s maybe one of the top three or four players in the game as far as being dangerous with the puck.”

In the end, first five-goal game (heck first four-goal game) in Wild history and second six-point night for Gaborik.

Lots of unsung heroes tonight: Brent Burns, Josh Harding, Aaron Voros, Dominic Moore-Branko Radivojevic-Stephane Veilleux line, Pavol Demitra, P-M Bouchard, and others.

Wild has won four in a row and nine of 12 to again squeak into first in the Northwest. Wild is 7-0 on Saturdays, oh, but Detroit’s in next.

Lastly, Here’s Brian Stensaas’ story on Islanders’ GM Garth Snow saying Don Lucia’s coaching hurt Kyle Okposo.

It’s 12:30 a.m. I’ve been at the arena since 10 a.m. I hope my car’s still in the parking lot and starts. Good night.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Game coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.