Wild revamps power-play units as it fights to end scoring slump

Off since being shut out for a second consecutive game Saturday, the Wild arrived in the O.C. this afternoon and had a long practice at Honda Center in preparation for a big three-game trip.

The Wild's reeling right now, has lost four in a row, has scored 29 times in the past 15 games and hasn't scored a power-play goal in January.

"I'm not sitting here saying, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe what's going on,'" coach Mike Yeo said. "This is what we have to deal with, so we deal with it. We would have liked to have had a mulligan on the last three weeks, but I don't think they're going to give us that.

"So we're going to have to find a way to get ourselves out of this. And self-pity is certainly not the answer."

Here were the lines today:

And, ...

The point men actually interchanged with the groups of forwards, so we may see the point guys on, let's call it, Unit 2, playing with, let's call it, Unit 1.

The Wild is 1 for its last 29 on the power play in 15 games and 6 for 63 on the road all season.

"We're trying to find a solution here," Yeo said. "We have guys in spots that they're comfortable in."

The Wild has lost five of six in Anaheim despite usually outplaying the Ducks.

Getting the first goal would be huge Wednesday. In the past 10 games, the Wild has been scored upon first eight times and in four in a row.

"We want to win. We need to win, but the wins follow us playing really good games," Yeo said. "The biggest challenge right now is being able to stay focused on that and not getting caught up in what else is going on.

That's it for now. I'll be on KFAN at 11:35 a.m. Wednesday.

My thoughts are with many of my newspaper colleagues and good friends north of the border who lost their jobs today. So many talented people let go. It's just a nauseating day, a truly sad day for many friends and their families. It's a sad day for the industry, too.