High note turns into clunker

The deflating sigh inside Xcel Energy Center late Wednesday night had enough timbre to crack the nearby Capitol building windows.

After battling all third period for the tying goal, the Wild finally achieved the feat -- a very, very short-lived feat.

Only 19 seconds later, before the celebratory fans even had a chance to get settled in their seats again, the Wild served up the go-ahead goal near the end of what coach Todd Richards called the "poorest performance of the year" -- a 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

Scottie Upshall scored the winner with 4 minutes, 39 seconds left, silencing a flabbergasted crowd mere moments after Antti Miettinen ignited the arena with the tying goal.

"Basically as a group of five, it looked like we just kind of retreated into our zone, watching, nobody picking up," Richards said. "And ... rebound."

Niklas Backstrom gave up a juicy one off Keith Yandle's shot from inside the blue line. But while the rebound looked bad, Backstrom felt he directed it harmlessly to the right wall. He didn't know Upshall had slipped behind defenseman Marek Zidlicky.

"I think I played the rebound pretty good. But [Upshall] was almost behind me," Backstrom said. "I tried to slide and it went under."

Shifts after goals are huge, and the Wild has had a tendency all season of giving up Grade A chances right after scoring goals. Backstrom pointed to the shift after Andrew Brunette's initial tying goal early in the third period.

"We score and they [Martin Hanzal] hit the crossbar next shift. So we didn't learn from that," Backstrom said.

On the surface, the Coyotes' victory -- their first in St. Paul since Nov. 8, 2005, after losing seven in a row here -- was a late Wild meltdown. But looking big-picture, the game was emblematic of the Wild's season.

In a season full of bad starts, this one was a dreadful one.

"They took the play to us," veteran Owen Nolan said.

The Coyotes were all over the Wild in the first 30 minutes, outshooting Minnesota 15-5 in a scoreless first period and pinning the Wild in its zone nearly every shift.

"The first period, they pretty much controlled and dictated everything going on," Richards said.

Conversely, the Wild -- other than the Brunette-Mikko Koivu-Miettinen line -- generated squat offensively.

"They were really dropping back. They had five guys between the blue lines," Miettinen said. "We didn't have enough speed to play the puck behind them."

Guarding against the customary first-game-after-a-long-road-trip blues, Richards, "half-expecting it," warned the team in his pregame meeting. But the Wild still emerged with zero jump.

"I have to look at myself for the slow starts," said Richards, saying he plans to examine his practices and morning skates to determine if he can "prepare us better."

Backstrom bailed the Wild out countless times in the first, but referee Kelly Sutherland was fooled by defenseman Sami Lepisto snapping his stick on a clear. Sutherland called Nolan for a slashing minor, and Radim Vrbata scored on the power play to start the second.

"[Sutherland] told me he was wrong," Nolan said.

But Richards said, "That wasn't the reason we lost."

After Brunette scored his first goal in 10 games early in the third, Vrbata hit Jim Vandermeer (20 goals in 333 games) for an odd-man rush and eventual 2-1 lead. Then Miettinen scored, and the Wild again caved.

"Frustrating," defenseman Shane Hnidy said. "There's no other way to say it."

THE NUMBER

7 Consecutive losses for the Phoenix Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center before their victory on Wednesday night.