MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins have added Paul Molitor to their coaching staff, assigning him supervision of the teams base running, bunting, infield instruction and positioning as well as assistance with in-game strategy. This is not some token job for a prominent, popular former player. All of those areas need a lot of work, so Molitor is going to be busy. "Hes certainly got a history and knowledge and a high baseball IQ," general manager Terry Ryan said. "Theres no doubt about that. It fits pretty good here." The hire was announced Tuesday by the Twins, who finished 66-96 for the second straight season after going 63-99 the year before that. "Theres really no part of the game that we cant do better at," Molitor said, adding: "Im going to be able to work on guys who need to have a small-ball game, with the things they can do, with ways to score runs. I think thats kind of a lost art. Guys worry so much about getting on base, but they forget how to score and how to pick up 90 feet. While it wasnt horrible, I think it certainly could be better." Since 2005, Molitor has served as a minor league base running and infield co-ordinator for the organization. The last three of his 21 major league seasons as a player came with the Twins until his retirement in 1998. The 57-year-old grew up in nearby St. Paul, attending the same high school where Joe Mauer later starred and then playing for the University of Minnesota before his professional career was launched with Milwaukee and extended with Toronto. The seven-time All-Star is one of six players in history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Molitor was a candidate to be Minnesotas manager in 2002 after Tom Kelly retired, but he withdrew during the unsettling process during which Major League Baseball tried to eliminate the franchise before being blocked in court. The job went to Ron Gardenhire, who has held it since then and received a new two-year contract last month. All of Gardenhires assistants were brought back, too, so the position for Molitor on staff is new. "I appreciate that hes respected my input in spring training when hes had me come down there as an extra coach those first few weeks the past several years," Molitor said. "Weve talked again often. Its going to be a chance for us to take that kind of to another level in how were going to work together, as me being as part of his staff." Gardenhire neednt look over his shoulder, Ryan said. The idea to hire Molitor was Gardenhires, actually. "Gardy has no reason to worry about his job," Ryan said, adding: "I didnt want to be perceived as hiring Molitor as a manager-in-waiting. Thats not true. Were adding him to our staff to make us better." Molitor didnt dismiss eventual interest in becoming a manager. But he didnt sound ready to think about it. "Im sure therell be some questions regarding that. Theres been a lot of speculation even over the last season about Gardys potential future, and I just dont think that I can really say anything other than this is going to be invaluable for me in terms of getting back into a major league situation and continuing to gain experience and maybe learning more about what I want my future to be," Molitor said. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe tweeted after the news was announced: "Wow, so stoked to see Molitor join our staff! Hes one of the most knowledgeable baseball men Ive ever met." Ryan was glad to hear that. "Thats kind of music to my ears because Im hoping we can get Trevor going. Hes got the capability to be a pretty good player. This year wasnt what we were hoping," Ryan said. NOTES: The Twins announced that closer Glen Perkins had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 1 on the medial meniscus cartilage in his right knee. Hell be ready for spring training. ... 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After the loss, White refused to make good on the bet, instead offering Hoyt tickets to a Bears game.The Rangers earn an overtime win and Patrick Kane comes alive in the third period to give Chicago a victory in Game One. Scott Cullen has notes on Brassard, Pouliot, Crosby, Kane, Bickell, Hossa and more. RANGERS TAKE OT WIN Derick Brassard scored at 3:06 of overtime to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game One. The Rangers third line made the most of their opportunities for the night, as Benoit Pouliot scored the Rangers first goal as well as assisting on the game-winner. Brassard and Pouliot also had the Rangers best possession stats for the game, on the ice for 60% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5. The most notable story for the Penguins is that Sidney Crosby was held off the scoresheet, but also was on for all three Rangers goals. Its been a rough start to the postseason for Crosby. Even though he has six assists in seven games and his puck possession numbers are strong, Crosby is minus-5 and still seeking his first goal of the postseason. Hes still getting chances -- his 3.14 shots on goal per game is barely below his regular-season average of 3.24 per game -- but until he gets that first goal, hes going to be under more scrutiny than usual. Penguins wingers Jussi Jokinen and James Neal were on the ice for more than 70% of 5-on-5 shot attempts and Neal scored Pittsburghs second goal, but the ice was tilted favourably in their direction -- they started more than 75% of their shifts in the offensive zone. Rangers D Dan Girardi chipped in a couple of assists. Only once in 81 games during the regular season did Girardi record two assists in a game. The bad news for the Penguins is that they won the puck possession battle, which doesnt fit the profile of these teams entering the postseason, but that still wasnt enough to get away with the win. Getting beat by the Rangers third line is all the more troubling because the Penguins depth and goaltending are areas in which they would expect to have a deficit when compared to the Rangers and thats exactly how Game One played out. KANE PUTS ON A SHOW Blackhawks wingers Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell each scored a pair of goals and Chicago knocked off the Minnesota Wild, 5-2, in Game One. Kane broke a 2-2 tie with 11:38 remaining in the third period, on a highllight-reel goal, then added another with 3:13 remaining to settle the matter before Bickell added an empty-netter.dddddddddddd Kane now has five goals and eight points in seven games this postseason, while Bickell has four goals and five points in seven games. Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa had three points (1 G, 2 A), giving him more points already in this series than he managed in six first-round games against St. Louis. No matter, no one in this years playoffs has more than Hossas 118 career playoff points. LW Patrick Sharp, who had one point in Round One, added two assists in Game One against Minnesota, while D Brent Seabrook contributed two more assists, giving him eight points (2 G, 6 A) in four games. To their credit, the Wild didnt wilt after falling behind 2-0. They outshot the Blackhawks 17-3 in the second period, then scored twice in the first seven minutes of the third to even things up; not for long it turned out. Wild D Jonas Brodin had the best possession numbers for Minnesota at 5-on-5, 73.7% of shot attempts, but it was a rough night for him, as he had six minutes in penalties and was in the box for Chicagos first two goals. D Clayton Stoner also had an eventful game for the Wild, getting credited with a goal (knocked in by Johnny Oduyas skate) and delivering a game-high six hits, including one that knocked Blackhawks RW Andrew Shaw out of the game in the first period. This game showed just how difficult the task at hand is for the Wild. They fought hard to come back, outshot the Blackhawks 32-21 (48-37 in 5-on-5 shot attempts), but they couldnt contain the Blackhawks power play or prevent Kane from getting loose. On top of that, the Wild were fortunate enough to have a Blackhawks goal disallowed in the first period, so there is some work to be done if they are going to make a series out of this. On the plus side, the Wild did show that they can take the play to the Blackhawks at times, so they will have to continue doing so because its difficult to expect Ilya Bryzgalov to get the better of Corey Crawford in the goaltending matchup. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '