By Chip Scoggins

DETROIT -- The Wild obviously had an miserable night at Joe Louis Arena in a 5-1 loss to the Red Wings on Thursday.

Lets get to the injury situation first. Goalie Niklas Backstrom did not play after tweaking his groin during the morning skate. Coach Todd Richards said Backstrom is day-to-day. Backstrom said he will see how he feels Friday morning before deciding whether he can play against Buffalo.

"The medical staff told me not to [play]," he said. "It got worse during the morning skate and it was pretty bad after I skated and not so good in the warmup before the game. It was the right decision."

Winger Guillaume Latendresse left the game and was taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons after getting hit in the back of the head on a high stick by Brian Rafalski. Richards said he doesn't believe the injury is serious and Latendresse was able to fly with the team to Buffalo after the game.

The Wild already was without Brent Burns and Shane Hnidy. Burns warmed up before the game so Richards said there is a chance he might play Friday if he feels better in the morning.

As far as the game, the Wild dug itself a huge hole by giving up three goals halfway through the first period. Harding had not played since Feb. 4 when he aggravated a hip injury while making a save against Edmonton. The Red Wings jumped on him and scored their first goal goal 2 minutes 25 seconds into the game.

Harding got his glove on Johan Franzen's shot, but the puck popped out of his glove and bounced into the goal. "I wasn't very good tonight," Harding said. "It doesn't matter if you find out a minute before the game that you're playing, you always have to be ready. Tonight I let the team down a lot." Nobody blame Harding for the loss. The Red Wings dictated the play, won the battles and got a few good bounces.

"They came out and they swarmed us early and jumped out to a 3-0 lead," center Kyle Brodziak said. "They're such a good team to try and come back from that on. I definitely don't think anyone gave up, but it was a tough task when you're down three."

Said Antti Miettinen: "It's been our trademark for a big part of the year to give the opponent a goal or two goals or three goals ahead. It's not a good thing."

The Wild also gave up its 10th shorthanded goal of the season, which leads the NHL. Cam Barker misplayed the puck along the boards, allowing Detroit's Valtteri Filppula to get a breakaway. Filppula skated across the crease, stopped and threw a shot off Harding's pads. Drew Miller was crashing the net and the puck bounced off his chest into the goal.

"That's a killer when you do that [give up a shorthanded goal]," Richards said. Barker, a minus-3 for the game, talked about the play. "It was kind of a loose puck there," he said. "It was kind of a slow roller. It bounced a little bit. The guy just kind of popped around me. It's a tough play. With a score like that, you don't want to take chances but at the same time you need to score some goals." That's it for tonight. Got an early flight to Buffalo.