He became the first player in the team's seven seasons to record five goals in a game and was the first NHL player to record five goals in a game in more than 11 years. The most recent was Sergei Fedorov of the Red Wings, who scored five in a 5-4 Detroit victory over Washington on Dec. 12, 1996.

"It's an honor to be in that kind of company," Gaborik said.

— The Pioneer Press

A five-goal game is actually quite a bit more rare than I'd originally thought, as there have only been 42 in NHL history, quite a few of which took place in the league's early, early years.

Here's a look at five-goals games in the expansion era:

Six Goals
Red Berenson	St. Louis	07-Nov-68
Darryl Sittler	Toronto	07-Feb-76
Five Goals
Yvan Cournoyer	Montreal	15-Feb-75
Don Murdoch	NY Rangers	12-Oct-76
Ian Turnbull	Toronto	02-Feb-77
Bryan Trottier	NY Islanders	23-Dec-78
Tim Young	Minnesota	15-Jan-79
John Tonelli	NY Islanders	06-Jan-81
Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton	18-Feb-81
Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton	30-Dec-81
Grant Mulvey	Chicago	03-Feb-82
Bryan Trottier	NY Islanders	12-Feb-82
Willy Lindstrom	Winnipeg	02-Mar-82
Mark Pavelich	NY Rangers	23-Feb-83
Jari Kurri	Edmonton	19-Nov-83
Bengt Gustafsson	Washington	08-Jan-84
Pat Hughes	Edmonton	03-Feb-84
Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton	15-Dec-84
Dave Andreychuk	Buffalo	06-Feb-86
Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton	06-Dec-87
Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh	31-Dec-88
Joe Nieuwendyk	Calgary	11-Jan-89
Mats Sundin	Quebec	05-Mar-92
Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh	09-Apr-93
Peter Bondra	Washington	05-Feb-94
Mike Ricci	Quebec	17-Feb-94
Alexei Zhamnov	Winnipeg	01-Apr-95
Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh	26-Mar-96
Sergei Fedorov	Detroit	26-Dec-96
Marian Gaborik	Minnesota	20-Dec-07

Joe Pelletier has the full list over on his blog.

Marian Gaborik now has scored .62 goals per game, the same pace he kept up last season when he potted 30 in 48 games.