(Sports Network) - Marian Gaborik scored twice and added an assist, as the Wild doubled up the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-3, in each team's regular season finale and the last game for Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire.

The loss particularly hurt Columbus, which is heading to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and had a chance to lock up the sixth seed in the Western Conference. However, stuck at 92 points, the Blue Jackets are just two ahead of St. Louis, which ends its season Sunday at Colorado.

The Blues hold the tiebreaker over the Blue Jackets by virtue of their head- to-head record -- St. Louis was 5-1-0 against Columbus this season.

The Wild finished just out of the playoff race, ending the season ninth in the West with a 40-33-9 record (89 points). Minnesota had played in the postseason in each of the previous two seasons.

On top of the season ending for the Wild, an era ended for the franchise as well. Lemaire said after the game he will not return as the club's head coach next season, telling the Wild's radio analyst, "I think it's time for the team, the organization, to get a new coach."

Lemaire had been the only coach in Minnesota franchise history, being named head coach of the expansion team in June 2000. In his eight seasons behind the Minnesota bench, Lemaire guided the Wild to a 293-255-53 record with 55 ties.

Mikko Koivu and Kurtis Foster each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota, which closed the 2008-09 campaign on a three-game winning streak. Martin Skoula and Marc-Andre Bergeron also tallied a goal apiece, and Josh Harding made 25 saves in the win.

"I was really pleased in a way, being this close of making the playoffs," Lemaire said. "With the guys that we missed. We tried a lot of players through the season."

Jared Boll, Derek Dorsett and Rick Nash each had a goal for Columbus, whose 92 points (41-31-10) are by far a franchise record for points in a season. The Blue Jackets' old mark in seven previous years of existence had been 80, set last season.

Steve Mason allowed five goals on 27 shots in the loss, Columbus' second in a row and fourth out of five games.

"We're not playing very well right now," Blue Jackets head coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The last two games, we've played with no emotion and no energy."

Columbus built a 2-0 lead with two goals early in the first period. Nash took a pass near the blue line, then shot between the legs of a defender into the right side of the net just one minute into the contest.

Five minutes later, Boll slapped at the puck on the right side of the ice, near the boards, and managed to get his shot past Harding for the two-goal lead.

But Minnesota took over in the second frame, scoring three times. Foster got his first -- and now only -- goal of the season at 6:20, then Gaborik evened the game with a shorthanded tally just past the midway point.

Eric Belanger raced into the Columbus zone on a break and left a drop pass for Gaborik, who beat Mason to make it a 2-2 game.

Then, with 4:54 remaining, Skoula tipped in a blast Foster one-timed from the point to put Minnesota in front.

The Wild held on by one goal through the first half of the third frame, but added two goals within 27 seconds to extend their lead. Gaborik got his second goal with 7:11 remaining, and with 6:44 on the clock, Bergeron put a shot -- which hit the post first -- past Mason for the 5-2 lead.

Only 21 seconds after Bergeron's goal, Dorsett scored after skating in on a break, but Koivu added an empty-netter in the final minute to seal the win.

Game Notes

Columbus finished the season with a 25-13-3 home record...Minnesota ended the campaign with a 17-22-2 mark in road contests...The Wild won the season series between the teams for the second season in a row. Minnesota went 3-1-0 against Columbus in 2007-08 and had an identical record against the Blue Jackets this season...Nash finished the regular season leading Columbus in goals (40), assists (39) and points (79). He reached the 40-goal plateau for the second time in his career, having scored 41 in 2003-04... Anaheim entered Saturday's contest against Phoenix with 90 points and a chance to pull into a tie with Columbus, but lost in a shootout and can do no better than the seventh seed in the West.









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