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Home | Sports | Minnesota Wild

Offensive absence means another loss

David Brewster, Star Tribune

Dustin Byfuglien scores his second goal against the Wild in the first period of play Sunday.

The Wild has scored two first-period goals in 11 games. The Blackhawks' Dustin Byfuglien matched that on Sunday.

By BRIAN STENSAAS, Star Tribune

Last update: December 29, 2008 - 1:22 AM

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CHICAGO 4, WILD 1

Up next: 8 p.m. today at Calgary • Pengrowth Saddledome • TV: Ch. 45 (830-AM)

More from Minnesota Wild

You can say with a straight face that the Minnesota Wild is among the most consistent teams in the NHL.

Too bad that it's for the worse.

Against Chicago on Sunday, the Wild allowed the first goal for a franchise-record 10th consecutive game and again did not score in the first period.

Minnesota has scored only two first-period goals in the past 11 games.

It wasn't a good start, and it snowballed from there, leading to near-consistent boos from a clearly agitated home crowd.

Minnesota native Dustin Byfuglien's two first-period goals were enough for the Blackhawks in Chicago's 4-1 victory.

The Xcel Energy Center was once a spooked building for the Blackhawks.

They came into the game losers of 10 of their previous 11 games here. But these days it doesn't matter where the Blackhawks play. Chicago has won nine games in a row, the most ever for the franchise formed during the Calvin Coolidge administration.

Afterward, it was clear that some frustration was setting in among Wild players.

"You give them the credit, nine wins in a row," center Mikko Koivu said.

"But they're not that good. I mean, they outworked us [on Sunday].

"That's obvious. We had one guy tonight, and that was [goaltender Niklas] Backstrom, who had the effort to play this game in front of this crowd.

"If that's not going to change, there's something wrong inside of the team in every player in this room.

"With the goalie alone there, it's not going to work like that."

Backstrom made 28 saves in a losing effort on a night that the Wild could never get anything going.

Cal Clutterbuck's wrist shot beat Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet early in the third period, bringing some life into the building. But it quickly faded away.

The most Minnesota action from there was defenseman Marek Zidlicky playing an understudy role as netminder when Backstrom was pulled in the final minute.

Chicago controlled play the entire time that Backstrom was out, and eventually Kris Versteeg notched an empty-net goal with 4 seconds remaining.

Not surprisingly, that led to more unrest from the stands at the Xcel Energy Center.

"Yeah, it was deserved," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said.

"We have to play better. We have to skate more, we have to be better with the puck. The fans, they want to see a good game. They want to see guys working as hard as they can, and when they don't see it they let the guy know, which is normal."

Minnesota's loss coupled with Edmonton's victory over Nashville on Sunday means that the Wild has dropped all the way to 11th place in the Western Conference.

"We don't want to keep saying, 'It's gonna get there, it's gonna get there,' " defenseman Martin Skoula said.

"Because it's a crucial time."

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