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Score two for the old man Veteran Ronning finally makes playoff mark for young WildPosted: Wednesday May 07, 2003 1:29 AMST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- With a little self-control and one big game, center Cliff Ronning overcame one of the most disappointing moments of his career. After being acquired last summer by Minnesota, he became the Wild's oldest and highest-paid player. His experience helped the young team make the playoffs, but he wasn't doing much for Minnesota during the first part of its Western Conference semifinal series with Vancouver. Ronning was a healthy scratch in Game 3, and his playoff scoring drought reached 18 games following the Wild's 3-2 overtime loss to the Canucks in Game 4. "He had nothing negative to say," said left wing Andrew Brunette, who also scored on Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier in Monday's blowout second period. "He was totally professional about it." But Ronning returned Monday night and scored two goals, one of them part of a franchise-record five on the power play in the second period. Minnesota won 7-2 to force Wednesday's Game 6 in St. Paul, but Vancouver still leads the series 3-2. That's not so bad, Ronning said. "Everybody expects us to be gone," he explained. "We just have to keep working hard." Wild coach Jacques Lemaire had been disappointed with Ronning's puck control, especially on the power play, so his view of Game 3 came from the press box. Ronning's 116 career postseason games are by far the most on his team, so he's found himself becoming an extension of Lemaire and the coaching staff in the dressing room as the 3-year-old Wild have progressed throughout the playoffs. "A lot of it is what you say at the right times," Ronning said Tuesday after practice. "If there's too much tension, or there's not enough tension, you kind of just have to know at certain times what to say." Though the Wild lost three of the first four games of this series and knew no team in NHL history has ever overcome two 3-1 deficits in one postseason, there didn't appear to be much tension before Game 5. "We don't have a lot of guys who really rant and rave and yell and scream," said center Wes Walz, whose six playoff goals are second on the team behind Marian Gaborik. "We're very focused and have a lot of inner drive, stuff we keep under our sleeves." The Canucks, who trailed their first-round series 3-1 before rallying with three straight victories against St. Louis -- just like the Wild did against Colorado -- wanted to make only one trip to Minnesota. But they produced their worst performance of the series, being outmuscled continually in their own zone by the smaller Wild. "The intentions were there to do good things, but we didn't come even close to being our best," said defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who has a team-high six postseason goals but had a minus-4 rating on Monday. The Canucks admittedly let their guard up a little. "For whatever reason, maybe we thought it would be cuter a game than we needed to play and it cost us," said right wing Trent Klatt. "We didn't compete very well, didn't win many races, didn't win many battles. Certainly we gave up opportunities, and they capitalized on them." Monday's game was made more special because Ronning grew up in British Columbia and played for the Canucks from 1991-96. "I feel very close to the people in Vancouver," he said. "It's something that will never go away. I'm proud to be from here. I know how much they love hockey here." The same goes in Minnesota, where the Wild must caution themselves from getting too excited to play in front of their home fans as they've done more than once during the postseason. They're 1-4 at Xcel Energy Center in the playoffs. "It's something we have to get a grasp on," defenseman Willie Mitchell said. "Find a way to get the job done on our home ice." |
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