Gaborik joins the greats

His five goal performance still fresh on the sports highlight shows some 24 hours later, Marian Gaborik is getting rave reviews and comparisons to some of the greats of hockey who also achieved quintuple success on the ice.

With names like Lemieux, Bure and Federov being bounced around all day today, Gaborik is suddenly finding himself in some select company. His five goal outburst was the first time that a player has scored five goals in one game since 1996.

What's rather amazing about his feat on Thursday night was the fact that he's been able to do it with a team as defensively orientated as the Wild are. Head Coach Jacques Lemaire, while once a member of those firewagon hockey teams of the Canadiens, is a dedicated defensive styled coach, a discipline that sometimes leaves him frustrated by his star players efforts.

Gaborik is shall we say, slightly deficient in his defensive play, an aspect of his play that doesn't go un-noticed by Lemaire. His profile in the league isn't helped by plying his trade in Minnesota and on a normally low scoring team and combined with his recent spate of injuries he seems to stay below the radar for a good period of the seasons.

Though we suspect that after Thursday night, he'll gain a bit more notice and attention for the rest of the season.