The third-year Minnesota Wild and the perennially woeful Tampa Bay Lightning have turned the NHL on its ear by racing out to the top of their divisions (and in the Wild's case, the top of the conference).

But we've seen this act before. A team gets off to a hot start, then slowly fades over the course of the season until it finds itself out of the playoffs. So what makes this season's Wild and Lightning any different from last season's Calgary Flames?

Minnesota Wild		Tampa Bay Lightning
Marian Gaborik leads the Wild with 19 points.		Martin St. Louis leads the Lightning with 20 points.
Who are they?
The third edition of the Wild features a coaching staff and general manager combination that owns 18 Stanley Cup rings (most of them from the Canadiens, with a few from the Flames and Devils thrown into the mix). So one would naturally assume that GM Doug Risebrough and coach Jacques Lemaire looked east to Rue St. Catherine when building the team. Would you believe that instead, they seem to have looked west, to the Metrodome. Indeed, the Wild were built by ignoring high-priced free agents, relying on the draft and developing young talent from within their own farm system. Those are the same methods the cross-town Minnesota Twins have used, and for which they have been praised as a model for all of baseball to follow. The Twins' patience and frugality paid off in a trip to the ALCS this year, and some rival NHL coaches are already calling the Wild a legitimate threat for the playoffs.		Sad to say, in their 11th NHL season, the Lightning are still working on an identity other than the one forged beginning in 1997-98, the first of a league-record four consecutive seasons with at least 50 losses, including overtime. That streak was broken last season, when the building process that began in 1999, when Palace Sports & Entertainment bought the franchise and hired Rick Dudley as general manager, began to show some results. Dudley, who was forced out last season after trying to trade Vinny Lecavalier and is now GM of the Panthers, focused on speed, sometimes to the detriment of toughness. That's where Jay Feaster comes in. In his first gig as an NHL GM, Feaster upped the grit factor significantly, and added pieces on defense and at forward, all the time adhering to ownership's strict, low budget. Add a no-nonsense, well-prepared, coach like John Tortorella, who demands accountability; and the technical expertise of associate coach Craig Ramsay, and the support structure could not be better.
How'd they get here?
When Lemaire used stifling defense to coax a Stanley Cup out of the offensively-challenged Devils in 1995, the neutral zone trap was seemingly here to stay. The roots of the oft-heard complaint that late-1990s pro hockey had become "soccer on ice" can be traced to two things: talent-diluting expansion, and Jacques Lemaire. So when Lemaire took the reins of the expansion Wild in 2000, experts said that his trapping ways were perfect for a team that would surely struggle to score for the foreseeable future, and 0-0 ties would be the norm. Indeed, the Wild played in three scoreless deadlocks in their first two seasons. But Wild III has abandoned the trap in favor of an intensely aggressive forecheck in the offensive zone that has opponents coughing up the puck in all the wrong places. And believe it or not, with names like Ronning, Gaborik and Zholtok on offense, Lemaire has put together a forward unit known for -- are you sitting down? -- speed.		The Lightning have no delusions about where it stacks up to the rest of the league in terms of talent, so Tortorella convinced his players the only way to have a shot at competing with the elite was to work, work, work. Using the team speed as a base line, the coach devised a puck-pursuit, attacking style that insists on a fearsome forecheck and relentless skating. Add the happy coincidence of a league-mandated crackdown on obstruction, and the stage was set for Tampa Bay's resurgence from a season in which it scored just 178 goals. Tampa Bay doesn't trap except when the opposition starts its attack from behind its own net. Tortorella's system expects the defense will join the rush and pinch when the opportunity is there. That is risky business because odd-man rushes the other way are a constant threat. But with Nikolai Khabibulin providing world-class goaltending, the coach is willing to take that chance.
Who got them here?
Slovakian Marian Gaborik was the team's first-ever draft pick, going third overall in 2000. With no other scorers ready to go when the first season began, Gaborik was thrust into the NHL right away and has responded admirably. He led the team in points as a rookie and responded to talk of a "sophomore slump" by nearly doubling his offensive output last season. In year three, he seems poised to become one of the league's elite scorers. Complimentary offensive ingredients like Sergei Zholtok, Andrew Brunette and Cliff Ronning have been added to the mix and the result has been enough goals to compete with the likes of Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in the Northwest Division. But no Lemaire team would get far without defense, and to backstop the Wild, the coach hasn't even had to look beyond his immediate family. After 35 games as Ed Belfour's understudy in Dallas, Manny Fernandez -- Lemaire's nephew -- has been the Wild mainstay in goal since day one, and has emerged into a legitimate No. 1 goalie. Since last season, Fernandez had rotated with Dwayne Roloson, most famous for backing up Dominik Hasek in Buffalo during the Sabres' run to the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals.		The Lightning are nowhere without Khabibulin, whom Dudley stole from the Coyotes in March 2001, with defenseman Stan Neckar, for Paul Mara, Mike Johnson and the rights to prospect Ruslan Zainullin. The fifth-youngest team in the league, Tampa Bay's developing talent includes Lecavalier, who has responded after two sub-par seasons and after patching up a feud with Tortorella, and center Brad Richards who has played 177 consecutive games and is the team's finest passer. Martin St. Louis, who has speed and has learned how to finish, has been the nicest surprise, and forward Vinny Prospal provides an offensive and emotional spark. Feaster added wing Ruslan Fedotenko for some scoring punch and defensive presence, Brad Lukowich to shore up the defense and the team's attitude, and tough guys Andre Roy and Chris Dingman to protect and serve. Defenseman Dan Boyle has been an offensive spark plug, and left wing Dave Andreychuk and center Tim Taylor have provided veteran leadership. Don't underestimate goaltender coach Jeff Reese who has worked tirelessly to improve Khabibulin's puck-handling.
Will they be staying long?
If the Wild are intent on finishing their third season in May as opposed to early April, they'll need staying power. The team may benefit from their up-close knowledge of divisional rival Calgary's (pardon the pun) Flame-out last season. If you recall, the Flames started the 2001-02 campaign looking bound for the Presidents' Trophy at 9-0-2-2, and ended the year well out of the playoff chase after hitting a wall around the holidays. The Minnesota optimist will note that in addition to their hot regular season start, the Wild had the league's best preseason mark (the Vice Presidents' Trophy, anyone?). The pessimist will note their heavy reliance on Gaborik's offense, and underscore that Minnesota might be one injury away from a nosedive. In the bigger picture, the team might be poised for perennial playoff contention due to their frugal ways since joining the league. The Wild have sold out every home game in team history, sold tons of suites and merchandise, and have amassed a nice war chest. If they get a taste of the playoffs this season, don't be surprised to see some of those dollars invested in the free agent market in the summer of 2003 in hopes that playing at home after the Minnesota fishing opener becomes a regular thing.		The conventional wisdom says the team's current three-game losing streak is an indication the bubble has burst. But a closer look shows a team that gave the opposition all it could handle before losing games late. Yes, there are problems that have to be addressed before the team can entertain any long-term ambitions. But things like a streaky power play, and taking too many late-game penalties, which cost Tampa Bay two of the three games, can be fixed. What of the team's confidence? It should look at it this way. Tampa Bay has its best record ever after 13 games and it did it while playing nine of those games and eight of 10 on the road, and with Khabibulin yet to find his A game. The Lightning are 4-0-0 at home and will play seven of its next 10 at the St. Pete Times Forum. If the home cookin' doesn't rejuvenate them, then there will be trouble. But until then, the jury is still out.
Jess Myers, a Twin Cities-based freelance writer, covers the Wild for the Associated Press and college hockey for insidecollegehockey.com.		Damien Cristodero covers the Tampa Bay Lightning for the St. Petersburg Times.