For more on the Minnesota Wild, check out Hockey Wilderness.
The Minnesota Wild just can't catch a break at this point. They've fallen far from the top of the NHL standings, but most will admit that they're still far beyond what was expected of them this season. They didn't get the second half of the season started out how they wanted to, allowing four-straight goals in a loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, and are now out on a three-game road trip.
Still, the Wild are not out of things by a longshot, and only need their second half to be about as good as their first, perhaps a little better, to make the postseason. That's going to be tough given their amazing winning streaks earlier in the season, but they should be hard-pressed to lose as many games in a row as they did before the All-Star break.
Either way, they're taking on a Colorado Avalanche team on Thursday that is struggling about as much as they are. In fact, over the last 10 games, both teams are 3-6-1, so the Wild can at least feel like this isn't a daunting task ahead of them. Minnesota also took two of the three games between the two teams this season, with one of those wins being in Denver.
Though there's still half a season to be played, the Wild hold just a one-point advantage over the Avalanche for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, so head-to-head wins are the most important in this case. Minnesota holds the edge in that the Avalanche are presently on a three-game losing streak. The Wild will try to make it four.
For more on the Minnesota Wild, check out Hockey Wilderness. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NHL hub at SBNation.com/NHL.
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Wild At Avalanche: Backstrom Powers Minnesota To 1-0 Victory Over Colorado
The Minnesota Wild suffered a terrible loss on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators, squandering a 4-1 lead with 10:38 left in the game to ultimately lose by a score of 5-4. However, they rebounded quite nicely on Thursday night on their trip to Denver, as they held off the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 1-0.
Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom was brilliant in net for Minnesota, stopping all 37 shots that he faced. It was the third shutout for Backstrom this season and the 25th of his NHL career. The victory helped to continue Minnesota's dominance over Colorado, as the Wild are 10-1-2 in their last 13 visits to the Pepsi Center. The victory also pushed Minnesota into the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff chase, three games ahead of the Avalanche. The Avs have also played two more games than Minnesota has thus far this season.
The game's lone goal came in the first period, and it came off of the stick of Greg Zanon, who got just his second goal of the season by blasting a shot past Colorado goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere a little more than six minutes into the game. Dany Heatley and Kyle Brodziak were credited with assists on the goal.
The Wild will continue their road trip into the weekend, as they head into the American Airlines Arena on Saturday night to do battle with the Dallas Stars, who currently sit three points behind the Wild in the Western Conference playoff chase as well.
Feb 03 2:20a by Christopher Gates