It took quite a while for the Wild to climb the standings to its current perch at third in the Central Division, and it may be just as difficult to keep it.
After stringing together five wins in a row during its most successful stretch of the season, the Wild's momentum fizzled Thursday in a 5-3 wake-up call to the last-place Coyotes at Gila River Arena – a costly time for a letdown, as the Stars' point from an overtime loss to the Lightning moved Dallas within two points of the Wild.
"It was a missed opportunity," center Matt Cullen said. "Our start was pretty good, and we put ourselves in a good position to win the game. But once you kind of let a team hang around, let them stay in the game, you can pay the price for it."
This is the second time Arizona has upended the Wild this season; the team rallied from a three-goal deficit to pocket an overtime win just last month in Minnesota.
So the Wild was well-aware of how the Coyotes have adapted to the spoiler role.
Instead, it looked like a lack of finish undermined the Wild.
The team put 24 shots on net through the first two periods but capitalized just once. That kept the Coyotes in the game and once they found their rhythm, at the end of the second period on a power-play goal by defenseman Jakob Chychrun, they rolled past the Wild in the third.
"I don't think we executed to the level that we need to," Cullen said. "I thought our game was a little sloppy, didn't give us as many opportunities as we probably could have generated."
