Wild Lose 4th Straight

ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild lost 3-2 to the New York Rangers.

The loss was the Wild's season worst, 4th loss in a row and 7th out of their last nine.

Eric Staal opened the scoring giving the Wild an early 1-0 lead. The goal was Staal's 24th goal of the season. Assists came from Wild trade deadline acquisition, Martin Hanzal, and defensemen Matt Dumba.

The Rangers tied the game minutes later when Gopher Alum Brady Skjei slipped one past goaltender Devin Dubnyk.

After a back and forth affair early in the second the Rangers broke the deadlock with goals from Oscar Lindberg and Jimmy Vesey.

The Wild would make it interesting in the 3rd when Matt Dumba picked up a goal and his second point of the night when he brought the Wild within one with 4:51 left in the 3rd.

With the Wild pushing for the tying late in the 3rd, Ryan Suter took a penalty with just under three minutes left in the game.

By the time the Wild finished killing off the penalty there was only 45 seconds left and they failed to score.

The Wild have now fallen 5 points behind the Chicago Blackhawks with 16 games remaining in the regular season.