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Home | Sports | Minnesota Wild

December remains ice cold for Wild

Christian Petersen, Getty Images

ANAHEIM, CA - DECEMBER 14: Bobby Ryan #54 of the Anaheim Ducks is congratulated by teammates Bret Hedican #3, Steve Montador #5, George Parros #16 and Ryan Carter #20 after Ryan scored a second period goal past goaltender Josh Harding #29 of the Minnesota Wild during the NHL game at Honda Center on December 14, 2008 in Anaheim, California.

The Wild's plunge continued with a loss to the Ducks, as the team hopes for a savior to return this week in Marian Gaborik.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: December 15, 2008 - 4:02 PM

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ANAHEIM 4, WILD 2

Up next: vs. Calgary, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Xcel Energy Center; TV: FSN (830-AM)

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ANAHEIM, CALIF. — Marian Gaborik hopes to play this week, and that long-anticipated return can't come soon enough.

The Wild is in dire need of resuscitation.

Minnesota's freefall in the Western Conference continued Sunday night with a 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.

The Wild skated well, and it even scored more than one goal for the first time in five games. The effort was better, so the fact that it was labeled a moral victory was predictable.

Struggling teams find the positives, and the Wild sure is struggling, with five consecutive regulation losses for the first time in team history.

"This is our best game in the last five," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "Played with more intensity, we battled for pucks, we tried hard. You could see the energy. It's like I told them: 'I don't have a problem with this game tonight. It's the other games I do.' "

The Wild, which led the Northwest Division on Dec. 3 but has since plummeted to eighth place in the West, is tied with ninth-place Phoenix in points (31) and is only two points ahead of, get this, 13th-place Columbus.

The Wild is in full-fledge crisis mode and desperate for Gaborik, who has missed 27 of 29 games, to suit up for real.

"Mentally, it'd help big time," defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron said. "When things are going well, it doesn't really matter. But right now, we sure could use a guy like this."

Said Gaborik, who has skated every day since Tuesday: "I'm hoping I can be in the lineup this week. It's my goal to play this week, definitely."

The Wild gave the Ducks a 2-0 head-start on goals by Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Perry's was as skilled a goal as you can imagine, as he and Chris Kunitz executed two give-and-gos.

However, the Wild rallied on Bergeron's first goal since Oct. 29 and Eric Belanger's eighth in the second period.

But four minutes later, a bad bounce resulted in Brendan Morrison gaining a step on Bergeron and roofing Todd Marchant's pass over Josh Harding.

But the killer came with 1:14 left in the second. Kim Johnsson, a minus-3 for the second time since being named December captain, coughed up the puck to enforcer George Parros, who quickly fed Bobby Ryan for a 4-2 Ducks lead.

"I didn't see him," Johnsson said of Parros.

Said Lemaire: "Johnny didn't have a good game. I know he's playing a lot, made a couple of mistakes, but we can't be too critical about him because he's been so great."

But it's the type of costly gaffe that's hard to overcome for the Wild, which has scored a conference-low 76 goals.

For instance, continuing a recent trend of missed open nets by the Wild, James Sheppard hit the far pipe in the third. That also happened to Pierre-Marc Bouchard the day before against Los Angeles.

"The wheel's got to start turning this way soon," said Bergeron, rolling his eyes.

It better. The Wild is 1-6 in December.

"And we're not at Christmas yet," Lemaire said.

Is that good or bad? "They play like this, we'll get our share of games won," Lemaire said. "It's a good step for us, this game. Hopefully the guys will build on this."

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