St. Paul, Minn. – The Minnesota Wild rarely uses the Western Conference race to gauge its performance. Jacques Lemaire will always be the judge of that.
Well, the stern coach has been finding his approval easier and easier to give.
Third-string goalie Josh Harding turned in another strong performance to help the Wild beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Saturday night and stretch its franchise-best winning streak to nine games.
“I don’t count that,” Lemaire said, cracking his familiar wry smile when asked about the streak.
For Lemaire, success always has been measured by consistent, well-rounded play and maximum effort. The bonus? Minnesota sneaked past idle Vancouver into first place in the Northwest Division, though the Canucks have played two fewer games. With 97 points, the Wild established a franchise record and reached the fourth-highest total in the conference.
Brian Rolston got his team-leading 31st goal after Brent Burns scored in the first period, but before Mikko Koivu’s late goal Los Angeles controlled the flow while Minnesota’s skaters slowed and were bogged down by penalties.
There always is more that can be done, as anyone who ever has played for Lemaire will attest.
“The way you play the first, second and third period, I think that’s more important than where we are in the standings,” Koivu said.
Dustin Brown scored for the Kings, who have been eliminated from the playoff chase but entered the game having gone 4-1-1 in their previous six games. Goalie Mathieu Garon had a four-game winning streak end. He made 19 saves in a game full of yapping, scrapping and a late fight between each team’s specialist – Derek Boogaard for Minnesota and Raitis Ivanans for Los Angeles.
“I thought we generated a lot,” Kings coach Marc Crawford said. “The difference in the game was their goalie was better than ours. He preserved a victory for them.”
Harding, making his third start this season while Niklas Backstrom got a break, filled in seamlessly once again and improved to 3-0-1 since his promotion from the minors when original starter Manny Fernandez first sprained his left knee.
