Injuries hamper Wild as six-game winning streak ends against Ottawa

Maybe a letdown was natural after six consecutive wins and emotional victory over the rival Chicago Blackhawks, but the Wild got beat at home Thursday night by an opponent that had nothing to play for.

One night after being eliminated from postseason contention, the Ottawa Senators handed the Wild a 3-2 defeat at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild was missing one key player and lost another early, and several others acted as passengers, leaving coach John Torchetti pretty ticked off.

"We had a lot of guys that got to up their ante," Torchetti said. "There's no nights off in this league. We've got to be ready to battle, and I didn't like our battle level."

It was a missed opportunity for the Wild, which could have moved seven points up on Colorado for the second wild-card spot and within two points of slumping Nashville for the top wild-card spot. The Wild and Predators have four games left, the Avalanche five.

"We're not in any position to have any letdowns right now," said Jason Pominville, who after setting up Erik Haula's third-period tying goal committed a center-ice turnover that led to Ottawa's fluky game-winner off Haula's leg with 3 minutes, 57 seconds left.

"We can't afford that. We've got to make a push, we've got to fight. [Friday] we have to be up to the test because [Detroit's] a team that will be desperate. They're fighting for their playoff lives."

The Red Wings are currently out of a playoff spot after making the playoffs 24 consecutive years. It's uncertain whether veteran Thomas Vanek or defenseman Jared Spurgeon will be able to play against the Wings.

Vanek, cross-checked Tuesday by Chicago's Viktor Svedberg, tried to test an upper-body injury during pregame warmups, but he left the ice almost immediately. Then, 26 seconds into his second shift of the game, Spurgeon, one half of the Wild's top defense pair, blocked a Bobby Ryan shot and hobbled off for good.

That forced the Wild to play 57 minutes with five defensemen, spent energy that could prove troublesome Friday.

Still, defenseman Jonas Brodin said, "We have to be better than that."

With the Wild down 1-0 in the second, Zach Parise scored his team-leading 25th goal and sixth in the past four games. But 3:21 later, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who had a three-point night, gave Ottawa its one-goal lead back.

Early in the third, Haula extended his point streak to a franchise-record-tying 10 consecutive games by one-timing Pominville's feed. In 23 games under Torchetti, Haula has nine goals and 21 points after scoring five goals and 13 points in his first 49 games of the season.

The Wild thought it took a 3-2 lead on a late third-period power play when Matt Dumba scored. But referee Tom Kowal blew the play dead instants before. Most figured Kowal lost sight of a puck that was never covered, but Dumba said the official said he was calling incidental contact on Nino Niederreiter, who looked to be pushed into goalie Craig Anderson.

"We should have had a go-ahead goal," Parise said.

The Wild didn't, and after Pominville's turnover, the Wild allowed defenseman Cody Ceci to skate from the defensive blue line all the way to the offensive goal line. His centering pass caromed in off Haula's leg and past goalie Devan Dubnyk. Marco Scandella whiffed on his attempted check on Ceci right before the goal.

"We let one guy on the forecheck beat us from the neutral zone," Torchetti said. "We've got to do a better job to close that off."

Torchetti only liked the play of the Parise-Mikko Koivu-Charlie Coyle line. One concern is Jason Zucker's response to being scratched two games. He has no shots in two games since and now has two goals and two assists in his past 27.

"Need more," Torchetti said. "Everybody needs more."