Wild Smacked By Sharks Thursday In San Jose

The Minnesota Wild fell to the San Jose Sharks 6-1 Thursday night at HP Pavilion in San Jose. The Wild fall to seventh place in the intense race for the Western Conference's eight playoff spots.

Former Wild forward Martin Havlat scored the first period's only goal just over seven minutes in for the Sharks, who lead 1-0 at the first intermission.

Sharks forward Logan Coutoure scored on a power play early in the second period for a 2-0 San Jose lead before Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored for the Wild to make it 2-1. Havlat would score again late in the second period for a 3-1 Sharks lead heading into the third period.

The Sharks scored three goals in the third period to take the 6-1 win. Niklas Backstrom allowed 5 goals on 27 shots to take the loss for the Wild.

Minnesota falls to seventh place in the West with the loss, with just four games left on the schedule beginning with Sunday's game against Calgary at Xcel Energy Center.