With all due respect to Kevin McHale and his Timberwolves, who lost a 93-70 cliffhanger to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Target Center, the Xcel Energy Center was the place to be. Long, lost Marian Gaborik, with the most famous lower body since Jennifer Lopez, returned to the land of the living.

Well, to the Wild anyway. I'm not sure if their offense actually is alive. Enter Gaborik, who after missing 27 games is out of shape, out of condition and rusty. Yet he scored one of the Wild's two goals and assisted on the other.

"Gaborik is Gaborik," coach Jacques Lemaire astutely noted. "That's what he is. ... He played even better than I thought he would."

Gabby received a mixed reaction, although the cheers outweighed the jeers, when he skated out for his first shift. Apparently some people remained miffed that a) he turned down a huge contract offer, and b) he's a bit of a slow healer. But fan reaction was entirely in his favor after he scored Minnesota's second goal to pull the team into a tie with Calgary at 15:17 of the third period. It was a big moment, even though the Flames won in overtime.

The subject of the fans is a sensitive one with Gaborik, who clearly doesn't want to be perceived as the villain during contract negotiations. Even the minority of the crowd made up of boo-birds seemed to bother him.

"Yeah, that's what happens, I guess," he said. "They are great fans here. They've supported me over the years. And I have been loyal to them."

This morning, Gaborik probably didn't vault out of bed. He most likely inched his way out from under the covers, making sure his lower body remained attached to his upper body.

"That's it," he said right after the game. "It's always about the next day."

Wild fans might want to light a candle or sacrifice a small animal to the hockey gods. The punchless Wild desperately need Gaborik. With him in the lineup, Minnesota might even consistently score two goals per game.

However, the smart money says Gabby probably will be traded by the March 4 deadline. I keep saying that I hope not, but it seems inevitable. Until then, he can help the Wild in a lot of ways. If he scores a bunch of goals, the team benefits. If he stays healthy and increases his trade value, the team benefits.

Everyone can see what he means to the team. The Wild notched a point in the standings Wednesday night. Without Gaborik, they would have had zero.

"I don't feel in game-shape to where I can be," he said. "It takes a couple of games to get used to it."

At first, Lemaire had him out with James Sheppard and Stephane Veilleux. I'm not sure what Gaborik was supposed to do there. If he had led that line on a three-on-one breakout, he probably would have just picked up the puck and taken a bite out of it.

Gaborik gradually worked his way up the ladder. By the third period, he was playing regularly with Mikko Koivu. Lemaire said that became his best line. He also said he didn't know if those two would stay together because he didn't want to have just one scoring line.

Memo to the coach: Hey, Jacques, it's better than no scoring lines.

Gaborik had an assist on the Wild's first goal when he fired a wrist shot on Miikka Kiprusoff about 13 minutes into the second period. The Wild swarmed all over the short rebound, and Andrew Brunette jammed it home for the score.

This was a rough-and-tumble game, with bodies flying all over the place. Some of us were worried about Gaborik's upper body and middle body, too, never mind the lower body. But he appeared to survive it OK.

"I was a little bit nervous before the game," he said. "I felt better and better when the game progressed."

Even at 50 or 60 percent, Gaborik is the Wild's best player on offense. His long-term future with the Wild is kind of murky. But if he really is healthy, he is going to supply a huge boost over the next couple of months.

The type of boost no other player on the roster can supply.

Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com