Marian Gaborik has taken his talents coast to coast over his National Hockey League career, but he found most of his scoring success as a member of the Minnesota Wild.
So it was a tad fitting that Gaborik would reach the 400-goal milestone against his former club, scoring twice in a 5-2 win for the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday to extend L.A.'s winning streak to six games.
Gaborik initiated a four-goal third period for the Kings, who trailed 2-1 after two frames, scoring No. 399 to tie the game 2-2 in the first five minutes of the period. No. 400 came roughly 10 minutes later as Gaborik was the beneficiary of a Kings faceoff win and buried the milestone mark past Devan Dubnyk.
Neither team could find the back of the night on a combined 19 first-period shots, but the floodgates started to crack in the second.
The Wild grabbed the first goal, with Charlie Coyle getting his stick on a centring pass.
Jake Muzzin tied the game with a blistering slap shot after Drew Doughty found his defense partner in space at the top of the left circle.
Minnesota regained the lead just over a minute later, with Tyler Ennis whacking the puck past Jonathan Quick.
But it was Gaborik’s night, and he wouldn’t be denied in the third.
After he tied the game, Adrian Kempe’s centering pass went off the skate of Jonas Brodin and behind Dubnyk for the Kings’ first lead of the game.
After Gaborik scored his 400th, Anze Kopitar potted his 15th of the season to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games. Kopitar also had two helpers in the game, giving him 500 in his NHL career.
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck