Lemaire wants Gaborik to dig down a bit deeper

It happens slowly at first. The fans straighten up and inch a little closer to the edge of their seats. Their eyes widen. A buzz begins. First softly and then louder. And then louder still. They know something special is about to happen. They feel it. They almost expect it.

This is what Wild forward Marian Gaborik does to nearly 19,000 people every game. Every time a puck drifts toward his stick, a charge seems to infiltrate the building. Just the way it does when guys named Jagr and Bure pick up the puck.

Before the eyes of Minnesota hockey fans, Gaborik is showing flashes of greatness. The kid's only 19, but if the early part of this, his second, season is an indication, Gaborik is on his way to becoming a star.

On Friday, he added two more goals and an assist to his impressive season totals in the Wild's easy 5-2 victory against Phoenix before 18,568 at Xcel Energy Center.

"He wants to be the best," Wild center and Gaborik linemate Jim Dowd said. "He has such confidence. Not a cockiness, but confidence. He believes in himself, he believes he can be the best. And when he's on the ice, that just comes through. He gets the puck and expects something great to happen."

Who can blame him? He's on pace to score 42 goals and 89 points this season. He picked up goals No. 11 and 12 Friday to go along with his 13th assist.

"It's great, for sure, if people think of me as a [star], but I really don't try to think about that," Gaborik said. "I just want to go out and keep working hard and if the team's winning, then I'm happy. I can't let myself start thinking about what it [all means]. I just want to keep getting better and better."

Gaborik started the season recovering from offseason hernia surgery. He missed the first game of the season then tried to make up for missing six weeks on every shift. He didn't score a goal in his first three games. Later, he went through a five-game goal-less drought.

"I was trying to do too much," Gaborik said. "But then I just tried to settle down and work with my linemates. I knew if I gave the puck up, it eventually would come back to me."

Using his new philosophy of letting the game come to him, Gaborik is on a torrid pace. He has eight points in the past five games. In the past seven games, he has seven goals and four assists. Already this season, he has eight multipoint games.

"Marian is playing well," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "But you also have to look who he is playing with. If [linemates] Andrew Brunette and Jimmy Dowd weren't playing as well as they are, then Marian wouldn't have half as many points as he does."

The line of Dowd, Brunette and Gaborik has sparked a power play that is carrying the Wild this season. The NHL's top unit struck three more times Sunday. Dowd and Pascal Dupuis scored on the Wild's first two shots -- both on the power play -- Friday to give Minnesota a 2-0 only five minutes into the game.

Wes Walz and Gaborik added second-period goals as the Wild built a 4-0 lead. After Shane Doan spoiled Dwayne Roloson's bid for a shutout at 12:16 of the second, Gaborik added his second goal of the game. And it could have been worse for Phoenix. The Wild also hit two posts.

This all came in what Lemaire called perhaps his team's best performance of the season.

"I like the way we're playing right now," Lemaire said.

Lemaire said the past two weeks, the Wild is starting to resemble last season's team. It has given up two goals or less in six of the past seven games. Gaborik and his line has done the rest.

"I'm playing with confidence right now," Gaborik said. "But it's a long season and I can't let up. I just want to keep it all going. I want to team to keep it going."