Good teams find ways to win, but as the Minnesota Wild continue to demonstrate, they also find ways to lose sometimes. The Wild blew leads on to separate occasions and fell 4-2 to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night in Saint Paul. Minnesota has not won in seven games since Dec. 10.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard netted a power play goal in the first period to provide Minnesota with a 1-0 lead, which they took into the first intermission. After Ryan O'Reilly evened the score midway through the second period, Cal Clutterbuck gave Minnesota the lead back less than a minute and a half later. But Gabriel Landeskog tied the game with just over a minute remaining in the second period. Then the Avalanche piled on to Minnesota's misery with a pair of goals in the third period, first by Jan Hejda and then by T.J. Galiardi.
Minnesota's seven-game slide was preceded by a seven-game win streak, so they incredibly remain atop the Northwest Division and in second place in the Western Conference.
The Wild hit the road next to take on the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. Minnesota won the only previous matchup between the teams thus far this season, topping Nashville at home 3-2 on Nov. 23.