(It's nice to see they gave him something useful to do in this game -
like sit in the penalty box.)

The Minnesota Wild again proved they are at their best when their
backs are against the wall.

Cliff Ronning scored twice in a five-goal second period as the Wild
remained perfect when facing elimination, rolling to a 7-2 rout of
the Vancouver Canucks in Game Five of their Western Conference
semifinal series.

Jason Marshall, Andrew Brunette and Marian Gaborik also struck in the
second for Minnesota, which never had scored more than six goals in a
game in its three-year history. But the Wild improved to 4-0 when
facing elimination and will host Game Six on Wednesday.

"We're a better team when we're desperate," Brunette said. "We might
be better when we're down. I think when desperation creeps into our
game plan, we know we have to be very good, especially in front of
the net, and bury our chances."

Minnesota rallied from a three games to one deficit before
eliminating the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche in the conference
quarterfinals.

"We aren't doing any cartwheels over this one," said Wild center Wes
Walz, who had a goal and two assists. "We still have our backs
against the wall and we've got a huge mountain to climb."

Minnesota could be without left wing Pascal Dupuis and defenseman
Willie Mitchell when the series returns to the Xcel Energy Center.
Dupuis suffered a high ankle sprain and Mitchell left in the third
period after aggravating a wrist injury.

The Wild also got a scare early in the third when Gaborik, who leads
all playoff scorers with nine goals, took a high, hard hit from
Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund.

"It's sore, but I'm fine," Gaborik said. "He got me pretty good."

Trent Klatt set up both goals for Vancouver, which lost for just the
second time in its last eight games.

"We didn't compete hard enough," Klatt said. "We made a lot of
mistakes and they made us pay for it. It was a matter of us not
being ready to play and giving the effort we needed to."

The Canucks had the momentum after Brendan Morrison scored with 1:47
left in the first period to forge a 1-1 tie. But a high-sticking
penalty on Vancouver captain Markus Naslund gave Minnesota a power
play that carried into the second period.

A former Canuck who was benched in Game Three, Ronning put the Wild
ahead for good at the 68-second mark when he fired a slap shot from
above the right faceoff circle past goaltender Dan Cloutier, who was
screened by Brunette.

"When they scored on the power play, it was a turning point," Naslund
said. "I felt we started to get a little momentum in the late part
of the first, but the power play turned everything around."

Marshall made it 3-1 at 7:44, jamming a rebound under Cloutier's left
pad for his first playoff goal since Game Three of the 1999
conference quarterfinals.

Brunette shrugged off a check from defenseman Ed Jovanovski behind
the net midway through the period, skated out front and - with his
back to the goal - flicked a backhander into the top right corner of
the net.

"It just reinforces the fact that we thought we were playing well in
the first four games and we didn't get any bounces or things just
didn't seem to go our way," Brunette said.

Gaborik got into the act 2 1/2 minutes later when he swept a rebound
into a half-empty net. Ronning capped the most explosive period
against the Canucks in their postseason history at 16:07 off a
giveaway by Jovanovski.

"We didn't even come close to being our best," Jovanovski
said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. ... Tonight, we let
ourselves down. We can't look further than ourselves for what the
problem was tonight."

"It's satisfying, but I really wasn't doing anything different," said
Ronning, who had just three assists in his first 10 playoff
games. "I was trying hard, I was getting shots at the net, hitting
crossbars. That's the way hockey is. To get the opportunity to come
back, to help this team, it was gratifying."

Henrik Sedin got back a goal for Vancouver before the period ended,
which featured a confrontation between Cloutier and Minnesota
counterpart Dwayne Roloson.

"You just try to stay focused and keep your head in the game," said
Roloson, who made 25 saves.

Alex Auld started the third period after Cloutier surrendered six
goals on 21 shots.

Minnesota was held without a shot for the first half of the final
period, but Walz beat Auld on a shorthanded breakaway to cap the
scoring with 3:40 left.

Score by Periods:
-----------------------------------------
MINNESOTA 1 5 1 --7
VANCOUVER 1 1 0 --2
-----------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Minnesota, Richard Park 3 (Jim Dowd),
3:20.
2, Vancouver, Brendan Morrison 4 (Markus Naslund, Trent Klatt), 18:13.

Penalties: M Gaborik, Min (slashing), 0:50;
W Mitchell, Min (roughing), 11:08;
J Ruutu, Van (roughing), 11:08;
B Sopel, Van (hooking), 12:12;
J Marshall, Min (slashing), 19:09;
M Cooke, Van (high sticking), 19:09;
M Naslund, Van (high sticking), 19:56.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Minnesota, Cliff Ronning 1 (power play)
(Marian Gaborik, Sergei Zholtok), 1:08.
4, Minnesota, Jason Marshall 1 (Andrew Brunette, Wes Walz), 7:44.
5, Minnesota, Andrew Brunette 4 (Willie Mitchell), 10:16.
6, Minnesota, Marian Gaborik 9 (Jeremy Stevenson, Wes Walz), 12:47.
7, Minnesota, Cliff Ronning 2 (Unassisted), 16:07.
8, Vancouver, Henrik Sedin 3 (Murray Baron, Trent Klatt), 19:17.

Penalties: M Naslund, Van (high sticking), 10:28;
D Cloutier, Van (roughing served by B Sopel), 20:00;
D Cloutier, Van (goalie leaving crease served by B May), 20:00;
D Roloson, Min (roughing served by R Park), 20:00.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 9, Minnesota, Wes Walz 6 (shorthanded)
(Unassisted), 16:20.

Penalties: M Johnson, Min (charging), 3:06;
M Ohlund, Van (holding), 11:58;
J Stevenson, Min (hooking served by A Zyuzin), 14:28.

Shots on goal:
----------------------------------------
MINNESOTA 9 12 5 --26
VANCOUVER 9 6 12 --27
----------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: MIN - 1 of 5, VAN - 0 of 3.

Goalies: Minnesota, Dwayne Roloson (27 shots, 25 saves; record: 3-4-
0).
Vancouver, Dan Cloutier (21 shots, 15 saves; record: 7-5-0), Alex
Auld (start of 3rd period, 5, 4).

A: 18,514.

Referees: Don Van Massenhoven, Kerry Fraser.
Linesmen: Dan Schachte, Mike Cvik.