Defense? A Wild concept

By Eduardo A. Encina, Times Staff Writer
Published February 24, 2008

Marian Gaborik, left, who is having his best offensive season, pleases his coach by backchecking the Predators' Martin Erat.
	[Getty Images]

It's easy for Wild coach Jacques Lemaire to joke now, when his star,Marian Gaborik, is playing the most complete game of his career. In fact, when Lemaire saw retired Minnesota center Wes Walz at practice last week, he said about the ex-linemates: "Probably because of you that it took so long for Gaborik to (backcheck). Because you were doing it all the time, he didn't have to do it."

Gaborik's offense has picked up as well. His 33 goals, including five Dec. 20 against the Rangers, are five short of his career high set in 2005-06, and he's on pace for 91 points, 24 more than his career high of 67. Part of it is being healthy. Gaborik hasn't played more than 65 games since 2002-03. Lemaire also credits a meeting they had last month, after the coach said publicly Gaborik needed to "work harder."

"At a time, it clicks in," Lemaire said. "A guy gets more mature, understands more. Maybe he was afraid of his production. But since he's been backchecking, he's been scoring more."

Gaborik agreed: "I knew that I could play better and do something different. It's always good to hear some stuff from the coaches. It's always good to communicate."

Gaborik, who will be in Tampa on Wednesday, also offered his take on the Lightning: "It's hard when their (top) guys play 25 minutes every night and basically they rely on those three or four guys."

Thrashed

With rumors about high-scoring Marian Hossa swirling, the Thrashers are looking forward to moving past Tuesday's 3 p.m. deadline - trade or no trade. They've lost two straight and left Kari Lehtonen to fend for himself, facing 41, 49 and 46 shots in his past three games.

"It's gone on for two months," center Bobby Holik said. "I'm not saying it's a black cloud. But something is always moving with us, no matter where we go or where we are."

Veteran Mark Recchi didn't want to hear excuses after Thursday's 5-3 loss to Southeast-leading Carolina.

"We're not in this game for excuses," the right wing said. "We still have to go play. We're still fighting for a playoff spot regardless of if Hossa is going to get traded or isn't going to get traded. He's part of our hockey team right now. He's not letting it affect his play. Why should everybody else?"

They said it

-"I lost count of how many times I've been asked about (being traded). If you put all nine years together, it probably would be at least 1,000." - Nik Antropov, Leafs center who has never actually been traded

-"Emotion runs the day. People look back and say, 'What was I thinking?"' - Doug Wilson, Sharks GM on the front office's mind-set in the days before the trade deadline

-"Oh, now I'm going to get the bounces." - Manny Legace, Blues goaltender who after describing how the Kings beat him four times in 6:40 Thursday on goals that "actually weren't good plays on their part," sent a roll of used tape off the lid and into a trash can

Changing times

If the recent rise in attendance is any indication - the Predators entered Saturday with sellouts in three of their past four games- fans are starting to buy into the new, primarily local owners.

David Freeman, head of the group that took over in December, said he has had a lot of success on the corporate front, the previous regime's biggest challenge. A common complaint was the Predators, who have six sellouts since the sale compared with none this season before it, guilted local businesses.

"The basic mind-set or approach we're taking (on the corporate front) is it's not their responsibility to buy something," Freeman told Nashville's Tennessean. "It's our responsibility to give them a great product that they want to buy. There's no sense of entitlement."

Wounded Wing

Ian Laperriere's hit on Nicklas Lidstrom on Monday, which will sideline the All-Star for three weeks with a sprained right knee, refueled the fire between the Wings and Avs. Lidstrom didn't believe the hit was dirty, but some of his teammates disagreed.

"It looked like it was scripted out of WWE (wrestling)," Wings enforcer Aaron Downey said. "We're trying to grow the game in the United States. You can't be running the superstars of the league. If you want to have a good, clean hit, go out there and have a good, clean hit. But when the elbows are up and you hit a five-time Norris winner - arguably one of the best defensemen ever to play the game - it's a joke."

Laperriere wasn't penalized but said he understood why Downey fought him later in the period.

"I would have done the same thing if it had been on the other side," he said. "But it was a clean hit. I play hard, but I play clean."

[Last modified February 23, 2008, 22:44:31]