MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mikael Granlund’s arrival in Minnesota has been eagerly awaited by frustrated Wild fans looking for more star power and offensive skill on a team stuck in mediocrity since entering the NHL 12 years ago.

If the 20-year-old forward turns out to be as good as advertised, he could wind up sharing a spotlight with the likes of Adrian Peterson, Ricky Rubio, Jared Allen, Joe Mauer and Kevin Love.

Mikael Granlund Signs With The Wild

Granlund’s profile here, however, will never match his fame in Finland.”In some ways and some situations, he can be a little bit like Lennon and McCartney walking in the streets over there,” Granlund’s agent, Todd Diamond, said Wednesday after his client signed a three-year, $2.7 million entry-level contract with the Wild.

Diamond said Granlund has become Finland’s “most-Googled” athlete, and there are no search results more fitting than the clips on YouTube of his lacrosse-style goal during the World Championships last spring.

He picked up a puck behind the net and lifted it into the air as if it were super-glued to the blade, using a sling-shot move from the side of the net to sneak it in for the score. Each version of the videos on YouTube has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

The ninth overall pick in the 2010 draft wanted to finish his schooling, his required military service and another season for Finland’s national team and HIFK Helsinki in his country’s top league before finalizing his first NHL contract.

After waiting for two years for him to develop further, the Wild have been anticipating his arrival this year as the headliner of a heralded group of prospects that will compete for playing time in training camp. The organization offered the first 64 people to buy season tickets an autographed Granlund jersey — his number is 64.

Granlund’s roster spot, in case there were any questions, is already sewed up.

“We’re projecting based on what we’ve seen, but certainly I think he’s ready to play in the NHL and certainly the expectation is he’ll play for our club next year and be able to contribute,” general manager Chuck Fletcher said.

Granlund had 41 goals and 86 assists in three seasons for HIFK. He joined the team as a 17-year-old and was named his league’s top rookie for the 2009-10 season after tallying 13 goals and 27 assists in 43 games against much-older players. He’s 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, but being overwhelmed in the NHL shouldn’t be an issue.

“I’m never going to be the biggest or the toughest guy, but I try to work hard and be smart,” said Granlund, whose first name is pronounced mee-KYE-uhl.

Diamond, on a conference call with Fletcher and Granlund for Minnesota reporters, praised Granlund’s ability to blend in with his elders.

“They respect him so much because of his approach and because of his skill level,” Diamond said.

The Wild need a lot of that. They were last in the NHL in goals per game last season with an average of 2.02.

Asked whether Granlund could play on a line with friend and fellow Finn Mikko Koivu, Fletcher said that was too soon to determine.

“Over the course of his career I’m sure he’ll play center and right wing and left wing and on the power play and on the penalty kill. As to where he starts? Who knows?” Fletcher said.

With forwards Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Brett Bulmer, Johan Larsson and Zack Phillips also turning pro this year, the Wild have a lot more to work with for this season’s team. They won’t all make the roster right away, but the lack of depth exposed during the injury-filled 2011-12 season should begin to shore up.

“Whether it’s October or the spring or maybe the following year, at some point we’re going to have a lot of talent infused in our lineup,” Fletcher said.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Wild have signed defenseman Clayton Stoner to a two-year contract extension.

The Wild announced the move on Thursday. The 27-year-old Stoner is one member of a rebuilding defense corps that the Wild hopes to improve in front of goaltender Niklas Backstrom next season.

Stoner had one goal and four assists in 51 games for the Wild last season. He led the team in plus-minus rating during an injury-plagued season and impressed coaches with his physical play on the blue line.

He was a third-round pick of the Wild in 2004 and first started to show promise in the 2010-11 when he played in 57 games and led the team in plus-minus rating with a plus-5.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The MinnesotaWild said Wednesday goalie Niklas Backstrom (ankle), left wing Dany Heatley (knee) and right wing Devin Setoguchi (ankle) have all had procedures done since the season ended 10 days ago.

Backstrom played in 46 games this season, his fewest since his rookie year in 2006-07, posting a 19-18-7 record with a .919 save percentage that ranked 12th in the NHL. He was also bothered by a groin problem. Setoguchi had 19 goals and 17 assists in 69 games. Both he and Heatley were acquired in separate trades from the San Jose Sharks.

Setoguchi missed time because of a knee injury. Heatley, one of three players who appeared in every game, had 24 goals and 29 assists.

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But owner Craig Leipold is adamantly optimistic that he won’t be watching the postseason on television again next year.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday at team headquarters, Leipold said he’s working on a contract extension for general manager Chuck Fletcher, who has one more year left on his original deal, which began when he was hired before the 2009-10 season.

“Chuck’s team is coming in next year. The guys who his people have scouted, who his people have drafted, who he has developed are these great, young prospects,” Leipold said, “and I think the next couple of years are going to be really proud years.”

Leipold bought the team midway through the 2007-08 season. That was the last time the Wild made the playoffs. But there is a heralded group of forwards turning pro this year, recent high draft picks like Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Zack Phillips, Jason Zucker, Brett Bulmer and Johan Larsson who should significantly upgrade the talent pool in the system. They won’t all join the Wild at the same time, but they’re all expected to be in training camp fighting for roster spots, strengthening the competition and exciting the fan base.

“We’re selling the excitement of these young guys and hopefully this summer we’ll make some moves and we’ll sell the moves that we make this summer,” Leipold said.

The Wild’s season-ticket base is down to the equivalent of around 12,000 seats, but Leipold said he’s confident that number will be moving back toward an ideal 16,000.

“We aren’t going to sit still this summer. We’ll do something, whether it’s playing in the free agency market or talking to some other teams about doing some trades. Chuck has certainly shown that he’s not afraid to pull the trigger,” Leipold said.

The expiring collective bargaining agreement is a concern around the sport, particularly given the still-fresh memory of the 2004-05 season. But Leipold sounded as positive toward a new deal as he did about the direction of his team.

“I think that all the heavy lifting was done seven years ago, when the system was put into place. And now the issues that are out there we think are less controversial and less emotional. Certainly the players have some issues that they want us to address. We have some issues that we want them to address. But I don’t see any of them as the kinds of issues that would cause us to get into the disruption that we had seven years ago,” Leipold said.

Another lockout would be most unwelcome for the Wild, considering their craving to return to the postseason and all of their up-and-comers on the verge of contributing.

“I know it’ll happen. The question: Is next year the year? We think it is. We thought this year was going to be the year and had some things gone a different direction it would’ve been,” Leipold said, reflecting on the rash of injuries that contributed to the Wild’s demise from league leaders in mid-December with a 20-7-3 record to looking forward to the seventh overall pick in this summer’s draft.

“It’s hard to get in. Once you get in, you start to develop this confidence and this culture of winning and that’s what we have to get back in this organization,” Leipold said.

That aura Detroit has had for years was noticeable with the Wild earlier this season, Leipold said, but it didn’t last.

“This team was having fun. They were confident, not cocky because they weren’t beating anybody by more than one goal, but they were finding ways to win a game. Never were they out of a game,” Leipold said.

Then came the injuries, most notably concussions for second-line wingers Guillaume Latendresse and Pierre-Marc Bouchard and a separated shoulder for captain Mikko Koivu.

“All of a sudden you’ve got players who were playing on the fourth line who are now playing on the power play. We just couldn’t ever get that swagger back,” Leipold said.

Concussions have been a big problem around the league, and Leipold has felt it as much as any owner.

“It’s millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars that it has cost us this year by not having players who we are playing. Almost 7 million dollars for two guys who couldn’t play. We then have to pay other players to replace them. We’re talking about an awful lot of money. And we’re talking about the lives of players and not making the playoffs because of it,” Leipold said. “So I’m a guy sitting here: Somebody tell me what we can do, and I’m ready.”

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Four months later, they’re left with that “empty feeling” — as Yeo put it Monday in his season-ending remarks — of missing the playoffs for a fourth straight year.

“We have to face it: We’re not where we want to be, and that has to change,” captain Mikko Koivu said. “I think everybody knows that it’s been too long that we’ve finished the season like this.”

Despite the way their performance deteriorated, Yeo and general manager Chuck Fletcher spoke optimistically about the future.

They said they’re convinced they have better team chemistry than before. They said they believe the core of the current group has understood the way Yeo wants them to play within his puck-moving, tight-checking system. They’re eager to watch a half-dozen or more of the organization’s top prospects this fall.

Such comments were predictable. No sports team executives are going to publicly question their ability to improve. Frustrated fans and cynical analysts can do that for them. But both Fletcher and Yeo weren’t shy about making bold, positive assessments of the team’s future and that confidence came straight from the head coach.

“I truly believe, or feel I’ve learned, that I can win in this league,” Yeo said.

Can is the definitive word.

“The way we prepare, the work ethic we bring, the structure we play with, we’re close. But we have to push over the edge now,” Yeo said.

Injuries crippled this team like few others in the league, with nearly 400 total games missed by players who were hurt. Koivu was absent for 37 of them, and the toughness, talent and two-way ability of their first-line center are attributes the Wild just can’t be without. They went 8-16-3 without him. Despite scoring a team-high 24 goals in his first season for Minnesota, Dany Heatley had trouble finding opportunities when Koivu was out with a separated shoulder.

Concussions for Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Guillaume Latendresse took two more top-six forwards out of the lineup for a large chunk of games, and Devin Setoguchi also missed time to injury.

The Wild could have overcome these losses with greater depth. They used an NHL-high 47 players this year, and there just weren’t enough ready rookies to fill in when their best forwards were out.

“We’re a team where one or two players can make a big difference,” Fletcher said.

Not only did the Wild struggle to score at less than full strength, their offense reached an historic low. Not only did they set a franchise record for fewest goals in a season with 166, that’s the second-lowest total in the league by any team during the entire 12 years the Wild have been around. Only the Columbus Blue Jackets, with 164 in the 2001-02 season, scored less.

That’s the biggest reason why they won only seven games in regulation in their last 52 contests.

“For everyone in this room, no one can be happy you’re outside the playoffs. You have to make sure you’re better for next year,” said goalie Niklas Backstrom, another one of the oft-injured players this season. He’ll have ankle surgery soon.

Backstrom is also in the group of guys assured to be back, but fellow goalie Josh Harding is an unrestricted free agent. Assuming Fletcher doesn’t decide to trade one of them, Heatley, Koivu and Setoguchi are all under contract for at least another year, as are useful players like Matt Cullen, Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck. The forwards will have an influx of competition come training camp, when recent high draft picks Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Zack Phillips, Brett Bulmer and Johan Larsson will fight for time. None of them are guaranteed spots, but a few will probably make the team and the rest will be waiting in the AHL with the Houston Aeros for the next injury or underperforming player.

The Wild will have salary cap space to pursue free agents, too, and they’ll certainly inquire about Zack Parise, the son of the former Minnesota North Stars standout and current New Jersey Devils star.

Latendresse is a restricted free agent, but Fletcher said he’s close to being symptom free and could be brought back at a bargain price. Bouchard is further away from being cleared, but Fletcher insisted his symptoms are nowhere near as severe as they were two years ago. The Wild have continued to express confidence he’ll play next season, despite his dangerous history of head injury.

Those young skilled skaters will be welcomed additions. Bouchard and perhaps Latendresse would be nice bonuses. But Koivu and his linemates, no matter how the roster changes this summer, will be the ones who must score more for the Wild to compete.

“We need to realize that we need to get better as the year goes on as well,” Setoguchi said. “It starts with guys like myself and the leaders in the room. We need to make sure that when things get tough, we’re the guys to get it going.”

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Phoenix is the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and will face Chicago in the first round of the playoffs. The Coyotes won three of the four meetings against the Blackhawks this season, with one coming in a shootout.

Smith has been stellar for most of the season for the Coyotes, but he went through a rough patch in the middle of March when he allowed 22 goals over a seven-start stretch. He has since steadied himself in a major way, recording three straight shutouts before allowing just one goal in each of the last two games of the season as he heads to the playoffs.

He wasn’t tested often by the anemic Wild offense on Saturday, but made two brilliant stops — on Jason Zucker and Devin Setoguchi — on a power play toward the end of the second period to keep the Coyotes in control.

The Coyotes got out quickly, jumping on the board 5:34 into the game when Wild defenseman Kris Fredheim made a lazy back-handed clearing attempt behind the net that landed right on Boedker’s stick inside the right circle. Boedker pounced and easily beat Backstrom over the left shoulder for a 1-0 lead.

Phoenix made it 2-0 at 13:57 when Pyatt corralled a loose puck in the slot with his backhand, made a nifty move to get the puck on his forehand and fired a wrist shot past Backstrom.

The Wild got off to a lethargic start, with just five shots on goal in the first 33 minutes. But they picked up the pace later in the second period, getting on the board when Heatley banked the puck off Smith’s leg and into the net to make it 2-1.

But before the Wild fans had settled back into their seats, Pyatt was back at it, scoring on a rebound over a sprawling Backstrom 31 seconds later.

Vrbata scored his 35th goal of the season on a slap shot through Backstrom’s wickets from a shallow angle just over a minute into the final period to put the game on ice.

NOTES: Fredheim and D Chay Genoway were called up from AHL Houston for the finale to help a depleted defense that was missing Nate Prosser, who was suspended for the game after he head-butted Blackhawks forward Jamal Mayers on Thursday. … It’s the first time Boedker has scored goals in back-to-back games since March 24 and 26 last season. … Pyatt scored his first goals since Feb. 9, snapping a 17-game goal-less streak.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Cal Clutterbuck’s tying tip-in with 3:12 left in regulation and Devin Setoguchi’s shootout goal lifted the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

Setoguchi’s glove-side shot was the only one that went in during the skills contest. Josh Harding made 22 saves and was unscored upon after midway through the first period when Jamal Mayers gave the Blackhawks an early lead. The Hawks had only two shots on goal over the last 25 minutes of the game, one in the third.

Their struggling special teams didn’t help. The Wild gave them four power plays over the first two periods, including a five-minute man-advantage situation, but the Blackhawks didn’t score on any of those. Then their penalty kill let in a late goal.

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They made the move on Wednesday under emergency conditions. The Wild have a long list of injured players, with two more games left. They host Chicago on Thursday and Phoenix on Saturday.

If he plays, Cuma will become the latest first-round draft pick to make his debut with the Wild. The 22-year-old Cuma was taken by the Wild with the 23rd overall pick in 2008.

The Toronto native has nine assists in 68 games for the Houston Aeros in the AHL this season.

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Radulov scored the lone goal in the shootout, and the Predators edged the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night to reach 100 points for the second time in three seasons and fourth in seven. Radulov has six points in seven games since rejoining Nashville.

“Rad really converted,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “I saw his move on the replay, and that’s hard because you’re coming in and he changes direction. That elevation so quickly is almost impossible to stop.”

The Predators, who have two games left, moved back into fourth place in the Western Conference — one point over idle Detroit and two over Chicago. Detroit will finish the regular season on Saturday in Chicago.

“The win is the most important thing,” Nashville captain Shea Weber said. “Obviously, we’re somewhat in control of where we can finish. We can guarantee ourselves fifth. We’ve got to keep going.”

Backup goalie Anders Lindback started over Pekka Rinne, who was a healthy scratch to rest for the playoffs. Lindback stopped all three attempts in his first career shootout and 25 shots overall for his fourth win this season.

Lindback noted he had won one preseason shootout.

“I only had to make two saves there, and Rads threw down one. It was good,” Lindback said.

The Predators recalled Chet Pickard from Milwaukee of the AHL to make sure that Rinne, the NHL leader in games played and wins, got the night off. Gabriel Bourque also scored for Nashville, which took the season series 3-1 and won for the second time in three games overall.

Dany Heatley had the lone goal for Minnesota. The Wild came in 12th in the Western Conference. But Minnesota, a team that should be jockeying for draft position, had won three straight and five of eight. The Wild also beat Chicago 5-4 in a shootout on Sunday.

Nashville lost to Chicago 5-4 on Saturday night, slipping out of fourth with its sixth loss in 10 games.

Lindback stopped Heatley late in regulation from in front, and the Predators killed a power play that stretched 1:49 into overtime. Lindback stopped a one-timer from Mikko Koivu and swatted away a shot by Cal Clutterbuck at the end of the advantage.

Radulov had waved his hand, calling for the puck, in the final seconds of overtime and never got the pass. Lindback, the NHL’s tallest goalie at 6-foot-6, stopped Erik Christensen, Koivu and Devin Setoguchi in the shootout. Niklas Backstrom denied Martin Erat with a pad save, but Radulov slipped the puck past the goalie for the winning goal on his attempt.

“He’s an exciting player,” Weber said of Radulov. “He lives and thrives on those types of situations. The other night, that was a goal scorer’s goal, and tonight he was just patient and found a hole to slip through.”

Backstrom wasn’t happy with himself.

“I have to be better on that and try to make the save for the guys,” he said.

It was a fitting end to a night in which both teams struggled with bouncing pucks on ice not helped by a warm spring in Nashville. Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said his players had trouble, and he heard some of the Predators also complained after the morning skate.

“It’s hot out right now, but you’ve got to overcome that stuff,” Yeo said.

The Predators thought they had scored in the second when Nick Spaling passed the puck behind a drawn-out Backstrom, and Patric Hornqvist tried to knock it in. But Wild defenseman Marco Scandella went low, trying to protect the net, in what turned into a bit of a scrum. Wild forward Nick Johnson went into the net and let go of his stick to grab at something.

Officials reviewed the play for several minutes before announcing no goal.

Bourque put Nashville ahead 1-0 when Spaling took the puck away from Minnesota defenseman Clayton Stoner in the circle and sent a pass to Bourque, who scored his seventh this season on a wrister at 12:31 of the second.

Heatley tied it at 17:53 after Koivu corralled a puck that had just bounced off the crossbar and gave a pass to Nate Prosser. He slapped the puck toward the net, and Heatley tipped it under Lindback’s glove hand for his 23rd.

Notes: The Predators improved to 5-5 in shootouts this season. … Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter went to the box in the first period for cross-checking Setoguchi. It was Suter’s first penalty since Feb. 2 at Philadelphia. … Heatley scored his fifth goal this season against Nashville, and he has 23 career points (13 goals, 10 assists) against the Predators. … Bourque has seven points in nine games (4 goals, 3 assists). … Nashville announced its seventh straight sellout for the franchise’s 24th this season.

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Setoguchi had a goal and two assists in regulation, then sealed the victory in the third round of the shootout with a quick shot that beat Ray Emery.

Patrick Kane had the lone Chicago goal in the shootout against Josh Harding.

Kane scored his second goal in regulation, during a power play with 2:45 left in the third period, to tie it at 4. Alone in the slot, Kane converted a feed from rookie Andrew Shaw after Patrick Sharp forced Minnesota defenseman Tom Gilbert to turn over the puck.

Dany Heatley, Kyle Brodziak and defenseman Clayton Stoner also scored Minnesota, which won in a shootout for the second straight night. Sharp and Viktor Stalberg scored for Chicago, which has lost only twice in regulation in its last 16 games (11-2-3).

Harding made 31 saves through overtime, and Emery stopped 26 shots.

Although the Blackhawks dropped their final home game of the regular season, they already had clinched a playoff spot with a 5-4 victory Saturday night in Nashville and can finish no lower than sixth in the Western Conference. They finished 27-8-6 at the United Center.

Despite the shootout loss, Chicago improved to 98 points, tied with Nashville for third in the Central Division and fifth in the West. The Predators, however, have played one fewer game.

Chicago is in the postseason for the fourth straight season after missing the playoffs in nine of 10 previous years.

The team that finishes sixth in the West will meet the third seed from the conference —this year, the winner of the Pacific Division — in the opening playoff round. The sixth seed — Chicago, Detroit or Nashville — is assured of finishing with a better regular-season record than winner of the Pacific.

Setoguchi opened the scoring at 10:11 of the first on a breakaway after taking Heatley’s long feed. Crawford made a pad save on Setoguchi’s first shot, but the puck trickled underneath him, and Setoguchi stopped and slammed it in.

Sharp tied it 34 seconds later. He connected from the slot after taking a centering pass from defenseman Nick Leddy, who had carried the puck in all the way down right wing.

Heatley’s tap-in power-play goal, capping a neat cross-ice passing play with Mikko Koivu and Setoguchi, put Minnesota ahead 2-1 just over 3 minutes later.

Stalberg slipped past the Minnesota defense, took a feed from Brent Seabrook, cut to the net and tied it at 2 at 5:28 of the second.

But Stoner pinched in and scored on a rebound of Setoguchi’s jam-in attempt 20 seconds later to put Minnesota back in front, 3-2. Then Brodziak added his 22nd goal, sweeping in a rebound while tumbling to the ice, 41 seconds later to make it 4-2. Kane cut it to 4-3 on a shot from the right circle at 8:20.

Notes: Both Brodziak’s goal (22nd) and Stalberg’s (21st) extended career highs. … Chicago LW Andrew Brunette, who had been playing on the Blackhawks’ top line with Kane and Marian Hossa, missed the game because of an undisclosed lower-body injury. … Duncan Keith, Chicago’s top defenseman, served his final game of a five-game suspension. … Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed his 20th game with a concussion, but has been cleared to practice with contact. … Wild C Matt Cullen missed his fifth game because of a finger injury.

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Darroll Powe, Nick Johnson and Christensen scored in regulation for the Wild, who won their second straight. Niklas Backstrom had 26 saves, then stopped both Los Angeles shootout attempts.

Brad Richardson scored twice and Dustin Brown had a goal for Los Angeles, which began the night with a slim lead in the Pacific Division. Anze Kopitar had three assists and Jonathan Bernier made 20 saves, but the Kings lost for the first time in three games.

Both teams had excellent scoring opportunities in overtime. Mike Richards was robbed on a left pad save by Backstrom, and the Wild’s Devin Setoguchi hit the left post on a penalty shot.

Minnesota tied the game midway through the third period when a shot from Jason Zucker deflected off the stick of Los Angeles defenseman Slava Voynov and then off the skate of Christensen behind Bernier. The play was upheld by video review.

Los Angeles entered the day one point up on Dallas and Phoenix while San Jose was two points back, but in ninth place in the conference. The Kings have three games remaining: home against Edmonton on Monday and a home-and-home with the Sharks.

With the game tied 2-all less than a minute into the second period, Richardson, who had just three goals in 55 games, gave Los Angeles its first lead. After leaving the puck for Kopitar in the left circle, Richardson began to circle behind the net just as Kopitar’s shot went off the end boards. Richardson grabbed the loose puck, skated out from behind the net and put the puck into the unoccupied goal.

Powe put the Wild up 1-0 just 40 seconds into the game, tipping a slap shot from Nate Prosser just inside the right post.

Three minutes later, the teams swapped goals in a 17-second span.

First, Richardson scored on a rebound to tie the game, but Johnson countered with a rebound goal of his own. Zucker outmuscled defenseman Matt Greene through the left circle and to the left post where the duo collided with Bernier. As the puck lay alone in the crease, Johnson swooped in for the easy goal. It was Zucker’s first career point in his second NHL game.

Brown tied the game with a power-play goal late in the opening period, tucking a rebound of Richards’ shot past Backstrom.

NOTES: Richardson has three career two-goal games, the last coming on Oct. 23, 2010. … Kopitar has 21 points in his past 17 games. … Los Angeles C Jeff Carter missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. He is expected to see a specialist early next week. … Wild D Marco Scandella was scratched with an upper body injury. … Christensen has six goals in his past 10 games. … Minnesota scored two goals in the first period at home for the first time since Jan. 31.

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Trying to pull five points ahead of the Washington Capitals in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand and five to play, Florida led Minnesota by one in the final minute.

But the Wild, already eliminated from playoff contention, weren’t finished.

With Niklas Backstrom pulled from his net, Erik Christensen put home a rebound with 31 seconds left to send the game to overtime. Mikko Koivu scored 15 seconds into the extra session, handing the Panthers a 3-2 loss Thursday night.

“That’s a tough one,” Theodore said after Florida’s third overtime loss in its last four games. “We could’ve had two, probably should’ve had two. But you’ve got to forget about it.”

Kyle Brodziak also scored for the Wild, tying Dany Heatley for the team lead with 21 goals. Backstrom, playing for the first time since sustaining a groin injury March 1 in Montreal, stopped 25 shots.

Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist for Florida.

“We haven’t taken the easy path all year long,” Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. “It’s been an up and down season and we scratch and claw and all our games have been so close that sometimes we end up on the wrong side of it.”

Florida left winger Scottie Upshall opened the scoring on a power play at 13:27 of the second period. Brodziak tied it when he buried a rebound of his own shot following a Panthers’ turnover in their own end at 1:03 of the third period.

Florida regained the lead when Fleischmann scored his team-leading 25th goal of the season at 13:16 during a 4-on-3 advantage. But Tom Gilbert’s shot in the final minute deflected off Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell’s skate and then the left post, setting up Christensen’s tying goal.

“It hits a skate, hit the post, and he banged it in,” Theodore said. “We still get a big point, but when you’re 30 seconds away you want to get the win.”

Koivu scored on the first shot of overtime, splitting two defenders and sliding the puck past Theodore.

“You still have a lot to work for,” Gilbert said. “It’s tough not being in playoff spot or trying to get points to make the playoffs, but every game is still so important, especially the way we want to build our team and end on the right note.”

Theodore, Backstrom’s understudy last season, had 22 saves for the Panthers.

Florida can clinch the Atlantic Division with five points in its final five games, but has still yet to clinch a playoff berth. The Panthers, currently third in the playoff seeding, are four points behind No. 2 Boston with five games left for each team. Both clubs play three of their final five on the road, but Florida faces just one team currently in the playoff picture while the Bruins will take on three.

NOTES: Minnesota LW Jason Zucker, who agreed to a contract with the team Tuesday, made his NHL debut. Zucker was selected in the second-round (No. 59 overall) in the 2010 draft. … The Wild hosted more than 30 former Minnesota North Stars players as part of an alumni reunion, including Neal Broten, Lou Nanne and Jack Carlson. All former North Stars in attendance were introduced before the game. … Minnesota also honored the AHCA Division II national champion University of Wisconsin-Stout women’s hockey team during the second period. … Two of the Panthers’ top college prospects, University of Minnesota forwards Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad, attended the game. Both will play in the NCAA Frozen Four next week in Tampa, Fla. … Upshall is fifth among active players in goals per game against the Wild (minimum 15 games) with eight in 16 contests. Only Corey Perry (0.58 goals per game), Bobby Ryan (0.56), Johan Franzen (0.54) and Jarome Iginla (0.52) are higher.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Wild have a strong, deep group of prospects turning pro next season. They’re giving one of them a head start.

After signing forward Jason Zucker to an entry-level contract, the Wild brought the former University of Denver standout to practice on Wednesday and plan to play him on Thursday for his NHL debut.

There are only six games left for the Wild, and this starts Zucker’s free-agency clock a year earlier. They were willing to do that instead of sending him to the Houston Aeros, their AHL affiliate, so Zucker could evaluate his game and have a better idea about what to work on this summer. To make room for Zucker, the Wild reassigned forward Chad Rau to the Aeros.

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Marian Gaborik also scored, frustrating the fans of his former team, and Brian Boyle had a goal for the Rangers, who won for the third time in their last nine road games. They’re now 6-6 in their last 12 games.

Kyle Brodziak and Mikko Koivu scored power-play goals for the Wild, but Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was otherwise his normally stellar self.

With 6:23 left, Fedotenko found Wild defenseman Nate Prosser in an awkward position and scored on a pass from Ryan McDonagh that glanced off Wild defenseman Marco Scandella. McDonagh had two assists.

With an assist from their metropolitan-area rivals, the last-place New York Islanders, who beat Pittsburgh 5-3 earlier in the evening, the Rangers were in position to stretch their lead in both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference race to three points over the Penguins, 103-100.

The Penguins had gone 14-1-1 in their previous 16 games. The Rangers visit Pittsburgh on April 5, the second-to-last game before the playoffs, but the Penguins have five of their last six games against teams currently in the top eight in either conference and the Rangers have only three of their final six against foes currently above the playoff cut.

The already-depleted Wild took what’s probably their final blow of the season when center Matt Cullen — fourth on the team with 35 points — had surgery to repair a broken finger he sustained blocking a shot in Saturday’s game at Buffalo. But the Wild turned in one of their best performances in months against a Rangers team that could’ve used a pushover.

Midway through the first period, Wild goalie Josh Harding couldn’t quite control the puck during a scrap in front of the crease and Brandon Dubinsky poked it free. His shot hit the post, but Boyle was there — actually behind Harding — to knock it in for the lead.

Boyle took a delay-of-game penalty early in the middle period, and the Wild took advantage. Cal Clutterbuck’s shot from the left circle glanced off Lundqvist’s pad and landed on the edge of the crease where Brodziak was trying to stay upright fighting for position with McDonagh. Brodziak’s off-balance sweep of the puck was enough to push it in to tie the game, giving him his 20th goal of the season.

Less than five minutes later, Brad Richards won a faceoff in the Wild zone by sending the puck backward to McDonagh. Richards corralled a pass in the corner then sent a beautiful feed to Gaborik in the slot. With Wild defenseman Clayton Stoner turned the wrong way, away from Gaborik, the slick-skating Slovakian flipped a backhander over Harding’s glove to give the Rangers the lead again. Gaborik had a huge smile on his face as he pumped his fist, with boos from the crowd providing the soundtrack to his skate back to the bench.

But their penalty kill failed them once more, when Dany Heatley sent a textbook circle-to-circle pass to set up Koivu’s goal just 38 seconds into the man-advantage situation. The Wild’s power play — 26th in the NHL entering the game — has produced five goals in their last 13 opportunities.

Devin Setoguchi had the first assist, making this the first time all season Heatley and Setoguchi were credited for setting up a score by Koivu. After acquiring Heatley and Setoguchi in separate summer trades with San Jose, the Wild believed they had a first-rate first line. But Heatley has been hot and cold, Setoguchi has also been a nonfactor at times and Koivu has missed a total of 24 games because of a shoulder problem.

NOTES: This was his Koivu’s goal since Feb. 16 and his second score since the initial injury occurred on Jan. 14. … Gaborik moved within two goals of his third career 40-goal season. … McDonagh is from St. Paul and once played here in the Minnesota state tournament with Cretin-Derham High School.

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The deal was announced on Tuesday. Zucker was expected to join the team for practice on Wednesday and play on Thursday against the Florida Panthers.

Zucker was the Wild’s second-round draft pick in 2010. He played two years for the University of Denver, scoring 22 goals with 24 assists in 38 games this season as a sophomore for the Pioneers. Zucker was tied for ninth in the nation with nine power-play goals. The native of Las Vegas was the captain for the USA this year at the World Junior Championship.

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“It was a great slide. Like he was playing ‘D’ all his life,” Washington Capitals coach Dale Hunter said.

Ovechkin is Alexander the Great once again, and his resurgence couldn’t be more timely for the Capitals, who beat the Wild 3-0 on Sunday to pull back into the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

“I think today, I think (it was) probably like two years ago,” Ovechkin said. “I have kind of trust in how I play. … I feel pretty good. I feel sharp when I wasn’t in the game. I was fresh and, you know, it’s good for me.”

For much of the last two seasons, the open question has been whether Ovechkin would ever return to the form that earned him two league MVP awards and made him the biggest goal-scoring threat in the NHL.

But now he has nine goals in seven games, and the Capitals are tied again on points with the Buffalo Sabres for eighth in the East, with Washington holding the tiebreaker. The two teams meet in the nation’s capital on Tuesday night with just six games to go in the regular season.

“It’s going to be the biggest game of the year, for sure,” said Mathieu Perrault, who scored the Capitals’ second goal, “and we’re going to be ready for it.”

Jason Chimera also scored for the Capitals, and recent call-up Braden Holtby made 28 saves for his third career shutout and first of the season.

Holtby, sharing time with Michal Neuvirth while Tomas Vokoun recovers from a groin injury, gave a performance that normally would make him the center of attention, but not on a day when Hunter decided to dress only 11 forwards and therefore give the attack a double-dose of Ovechkin.

“It’s hard to match up against,” Hunter said. “Ovi’s out there so much, you can’t match one line against him.”

Ovechkin played 26 minutes, 19 seconds, his second highest total of the season. The most important sequence came during the Capitals’ second-period power play, when he broke up the breakaway and then got the secondary assist on Perrault’s goal that made the score 2-0.

Holtby had a close-up view as Ovechkin made up ground on Koivu.

“That’s a huge play for our team,” Holtby said. “It’s definitely a play you really don’t expect out of Alex because he’s an offensive threat, so to see him battling in the D-zone is huge.”

A blast from the left circle in the third period was the Capitals’ third goal of the game and Ovechkin’s 36th of the season. He recently passed his career-low of 32 goals from last season, but his 61 points are still well below last season’s low-water mark of 85.

Matt Hackett, another goaltender not long promoted from the minors, made 20 saves for the Wild. He was playing because Niklas Backstrom didn’t make the trip due to a lower-body injury, and because Josh Harding played Saturday in a 3-1 loss at Buffalo.

The Wild were shut out for the eighth time this season and were without their latest injury casualty, center Matt Cullen, sidelined after breaking his right index finger Saturday night in a loss at Buffalo.

Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said it’s not time yet to start focusing on next year.

“There’s no doubt that we’re not quite there,” Yeo said. “I think we all know that. But I like a lot of the things that we have. If you want to look at guys we have in the lineup right now, we have a lot of guys that can win, not only to get to the playoffs, but the type of guys you want in your lineup when you do play in the playoffs.”

Notes: Capitals RW Joel Ward missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. Washington C Nicklas Backstrom, sidelined since early January with a concussion, has resumed practicing with the team and could return this season. … Minnesota D Jared Spurgeon missed his second game since sustaining a concussion Thursday in a win over Calgary, and LW Matt Kassian sat out his third straight with a groin injury.
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Cody Hodgson had a goal and assist, while Thomas Vanek scored his first goal in eight games for Buffalo which overcame a slow start to improve to 6-0-2 in its past eight and 18-5-5 in its past 28. Ryan Miller stopped 24 shots in helping the Sabres (37-29-10) vaulted two points ahead of Washington and alone into eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Sabres have six games left — one fewer than the Capitals — and haven’t been in playoff contention since the morning of Dec. 20. And they’re on a roll at home, improving to 7-0-2 in their past nine.

Steven Kampfer scored the lone goal for the Wild (31-33-10), who continue to fall out of playoff contention as part of an 11-26-7 slide since they had the NHL’s best record on Dec. 10. Minnesota had a two-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 3-8-1 in its past 12.

The Wild’s last chance to tie it ended with 38 seconds left when Kurtis Foster was penalized for tripping. That led to Hodgson to seal the game by scoring into an empty net with 1 second remaining.

Foligno’s goal came less than a minute after Darroll Powe was penalized for holding. The Sabres worked the puck around to Tyler Myers at the right point, from where he blasted a shot on net. Foligno was cutting across the front and had the hard shot carom off his skate and behind goalie Josh Harding.

Foligno’s goal continued a hot stretch for the son of former Sabres captain Mike Foligno. The 20-year-old forward now has six goals and 10 points in eight games since being called up from AHL Rochester.

The Sabres rallied from a 1-0 deficit and after coming out flat in an opening period in which they were being out-shot 8-1 less than seven minutes into the game, when Kyle Brodziak set up Kampfer’s goal on a 2-on-1 break.

Buffalo’s cold start appeared to be the result of the team’s schedule, as it was playing its fourth game in six nights, and coming off a 4-1 win at the New York Rangers a night earlier.

The Sabres finally woke up to start the second period, with Vanek tying the game 72 seconds in during a scramble in front.

Harding was exceptional in the second period by stopping 16 of 17 shots he faced in the frame, and 34 overall. That included smothering Andrej Sekera’s blast from the right circle three minutes into the third and, three minutes later, getting his blocker up at the last minute to deflect Travis Turnbull’s shot just over the net.

Miller wasn’t as busy, but he was sharp when tested. His best save came 13 minutes into the frame when teammate Christian Ehrhoff carelessly carried the puck through his own crease, only to have Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu cut him off in front. Koivu got his stick on the puck and directed it toward the net, only to have Miller punch it aside with his glove.

Miller’s glove also came up big 3:20 into the third, when he got just enough of Clayton Stoner’s hard shot to have the puck carom up into the air and land on the mesh atop the net.

Miller’s stingy play has keyed the Sabres surge. He’s 13-1-3 in his past 17 games, a stretch in which he has three shutouts and allowed just 31 goals.

Notes: With Wild G Niklas Backstrom still nursing a lower body injury, the team recalled G Matt Hackett from AHL Houston. … Wild D Jared Spurgeon missed his first game with what could be a season-ending injury after he sustained a concussion in a 3-2 shootout win over Calgary on Thursday. … With Sabres rookie C Travis Turnbull scoring in a 4-1 win at the Rangers on Friday, Buffalo now has 29 players who have scored goals this season. That’s one short of the record set three times, the last in 1991-92. … Former Buffalo Bills and current Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Geoff Hangartner toured the press box with his fiancée and her high school class before the game.

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Devin Setoguchi scored in the fourth round of a shootout in the Minnesota Wild’s 3-2 comeback victory over the Flames on Thursday night.

“It’s just frustrating,” Calgary’s Blake Comeau said. “All around it feels like a big letdown and we got to figure it out in the next 48 hours before we play Dallas because it’s not going to be easy here on out.”

Dany Heatley and Darroll Powe scored in regulation for the Wild. Josh Harding stopped 27 shots and all four Calgary shots in the shootout to hand the Flames their fourth straight loss

Lee Stempniak and Anton Babchuk scored for Calgary, which failed to gain ground in the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Powe tied it at 2 with 7:37 left in the third when his shot trickled over the goal line. Officials originally ruled no-goal, but changed the call after a replay review.

Minnesota managed to rally despite playing most of the game without defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella. Spurgeon left in the first after getting elbowed in the head, and Scandella left in the second after blocking a shot with his hand.

Forward Matt Cullen filled in on the blue line.

“I told the defensemen that it wasn’t that hard,” Cullen said, grinning. “By no means am I a smooth backwards skater. But what else are you going to do? We know how to play hockey, so we did what we had to do.”

Setoguchi beat Miikka Kipprusoff with a wrist shot on the stick side, and Harding stopped Comeau to seal the victory.

The Flames took a 2-0 lead early in the second period when Babchuk scored unassisted with the Flames on a 5-on-3 power play. It was Babchuk’s first goal since March 9, 2011, against Dallas.

Because one of the Minnesota penalties was a high-sticking double-minor, the Flames had a 5-on-3 advantage for another minute, but failed to score again and break the game open.

Then the Wild woke up.

Getting outshot 21-4 with 16:08 left in the second, Minnesota started putting pressure on Kiprusoff.

Heatley finally broke through with a power-play goal midway through the second, his first goal in nine games and second in his last 17.

“We had chances to make it 3-0 and then we give them an opportunity on the power play,” Flames winger Alex Tanguay said. “They score and got back in the game and we just sat back. What can you say?”

Wild coach Mike Yeo credited his fourth line for turning the game around.

“Those guys really set the tone for us,” he said. “Getting in on the forecheck and creating some big hits really drew some momentum for us.”

Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu returned from a shoulder injury after missing 15 games and centered the top line with Heatley and Setoguchi. Koivu has missed 27 games this season. The Wild are 23-16-7 with Koivu in the lineup and 8-16-3 when he’s out.

The Flames entered the night tied with San Jose for 10th in the Western conference, trailing Phoenix and Los Angeles for the eighth and final postseason berth.

They’ve got some work to do to reach the postseason for the first time since 2009-10.

“We don’t feel we’re out of it by any means but we know we stumbled a bit in these games,” Calgary’s Jarome Iginla said. “We respect all these teams, but you look at the standings and there’s teams we feel that we didn’t play our best games against.”

Calgary has scored just five goals during its four-game skid. The losing streak comes after the Flames won a season-high five in a row.

It also was the first time the Flames lost this season when leading after two periods.

“You have to want to be in the playoffs and right now we’re giving it away,” Tanguay said.

Calgary is 5-15 in overtime and Minnesota is 9-10.

NOTES: Wild winger Matt Kassian missed the game with a groin injury. … Calgary defenseman Jay Bouwmeester played his 581st straight game, putting him alone in sixth place on the NHL’s ironman list. … The NCAA champion University of Minnesota women’s hockey team watched the game from a suite. … St. Paul police SWAT team officer Joe Reginek was lowered upside down from the ceiling of the Xcel Energy Center for the ceremonial opening faceoff.

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Koivu centered the top line with Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi on the wings.

Koivu has missed 27 games this season. The Wild are 22-16-7 with Koivu in the lineup and 8-16-3 when he’s out.

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Kyle Brodziak’s empty-netter gave the Wild even more to smile about, hearing a rare end-of-the-game roar from their fans after this win over the Northwest Division leader and competitor for the NHL’s best record.

The Canucks won’t get there if they keep playing like this. They’re 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Starting a four-game road trip the wrong way, they were shut out for the fourth time this season. The first three of those came in the first 10 games, with the last on Oct. 26.

Harding made 33 saves for his second shutout of the season and his first victory since Jan. 21 over Dallas. Christensen got his fourth goal in four games

These division rivals usually play rough games, and there was after-the-whistle shoving and jawing in each period. Late in the second, Canucks star Ryan Kesler was called for clipping when he charged at Cal Clutterbuck’s legs and sent the Wild right wing tumbling onto his back.

After a roughing call on Vancouver’s Alex Burrows and a fight between his teammate Kevin Bieksa and Minnesota’s Nick Johnson, the Wild finished the middle frame on a power play. Showing crisper puck movement and more aggression than they have in months, they ended a 1 for 23 skid with a much-needed man-advantage goal.

Clutterbuck centered a pass to Brodziak, who sent a blind backhand feed from the crease to a late-breaking Christensen from the right circle. He sneaked the puck into the side of the net, grazing goalie Cory Schneider’s shoulder area as it went in. Christensen, acquired in a February trade, was with the Wild for 17 games before finally scoring. Now he’s got four in the last four games.

Harding didn’t have to make many tough saves, though he snatched a slap shot by Kesler during Vancouver’s only power play with a slick glove save while seated in the butterfly position.

After sending rookie Matt Hackett back to the AHL club in Houston in the morning, the Wild had primary goalie Niklas Backstrom available on the bench for the first time in eight games, his groin injury finally healed enough for competition. Harding got the start, his first in four games since hurting his lower body and being pulled from the game in Phoenix on March 8. An unrestricted free agent this summer, Harding was 0-4-1 in his previous five decisions.

The Wild played well enough to give Harding a bigger padding, but they familiarly weren’t finishing at the net or rewarding themselves more for their revived attack. They outshot the Canucks 27-15 during a stretch from the middle of the first period until the second intermission.

Only four times in their previous 20 games did the Wild manage 30 or more shots on goal.

Schneider fell to 9-2-1 in his last 12 games since Christmas.

NOTES: Struggling Canucks LW Mason Raymond, who has only eight goals and eight assists this season, was a surprise healthy scratch for the first time this season. He missed the first 25 games because of a back injury. … Brodziak notched his 20th assist and has a new career high with 39 points. Clutterbuck has points in consecutive games for the first time in three months.

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Drayson Bowman scored twice and recorded an assist for the Hurricanes. Goaltender Brian Boucher made 21 saves and recorded his first win of the season.

Kyle Brodziak had a goal and two assists for Minnesota. Nick Johnson and Erik Christensen also scored for the Wild, who have lost eight of nine games.

Trailing 3-2, Carolina quickly changed the direction of the game in the third period. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Bowman made a perfect pass to a streaking Sutter for a breakaway. Sutter made a nice move and his backhand beat Minnesota’s Matt Hackett on the stick side to tie it at 7:16 of the third.

Less than a minute later, Brent launched a shot from just inside the blue line that got past Hackett and gave the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead. The goal came just as a Minnesota penalty expired.

Chad LaRose added an empty-net goal at 18:45.

The comeback allowed Boucher (1-4-1), out of action since early December, to win for the first time for the Hurricanes. Boucher, a veteran who previously won 119 NHL games for six different teams, missed 36 games earlier this season with a lower body injury.

Bowman got credit for Carolina’s second goal at 17:14 of the second period that cut the lead to 3-2. He passed the puck to Sutter in the slot, but the puck went off of the skate of Minnesota’s Devin Setoguchi and into the net before Sutter could touch it.

Bowman opened his second two-goal game of the season by picking off a bad pass from Clayton Stoner and firing the puck past Hackett at 1:02 of the first period.

Minnesota was in control for much of the first two-plus periods.

Johnson gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 12:33 of the second period when he knocked his own rebound up and over Boucher. Three minutes later, Brodziak made a perfect centering pass to a streaking Christensen — who scored for the third time in three games — and the Wild led 3-1.

With three points, Brodizak tied his career high of 37 points in a season, set a year ago with Minnesota. The center has also recorded five points in the past four games for the Wild.

Hackett made 29 saves for Minnesota.

Notes: Minnesota C Mikko Koivu was not activated despite practicing each of the past two days. The Wild’s captain has now missed 14 games with a shoulder injury. … Wild G Niklas Backstrom has now missed seven games in a row with a groin injury. … Carolina coach Kirk Muller started D Justin Faulk against the Wild. Faulk was last on the Xcel Energy Center ice last April when he helped Minnesota-Duluth win the NCAA title. … Carolina is in the midst of playing 10 of 12 games on the road. … Tom Gilbert, acquired by the Wild from Edmonton at the trade deadline, recorded his second point for Minnesota with a first-period assist. He now has two points in nine games.

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The sputtering Minnesota Wild gave them all they could handle, but the Western Conference’s hottest team emerged with yet another win.

Jamie Benn’s goal early in the third period, and Lehtonen’s second consecutive shutout gave the Stars their sixth straight victory, 1-0 over the Wild on Tuesday night.

“We got two points, and that’s what we came here for. We’re not trying to make it pretty out there,” Benn said. “We want to keep it ugly, play a simple game, and that’s why we’re successful lately.”

Benn scored for the third time in four games to give him 21 goals this season. He snagged a rink-wide pass from Brenden Morrow that glanced off Wild left wing Stephane Veilleux’s stick and straight to Benn for the tip-in with 16:14 remaining.

“What you have to do is stay patient. We know the game is 60 minutes, and if it takes 59 minutes, then it does. Keep sticking with the game plan,” Benn said.

The Stars haven’t needed that long to score lately. They’re 10-0-1 in their last 11 games, with seven victories in regulation. The Stars have taken over the Pacific Division race, and have a four-point lead with 12 games to play.

“I’m really realizing in this league that there’s no breaks,” said first-year head coach Glen Gulutzan. “If you take your foot off the gas for a second, someone’s going to pass you.”

Lehtonen made 25 saves. He hasn’t lost a road start in regulation since Feb. 14 at Detroit.

“He stops every puck pretty much. The guy is a workhorse. He’s unbelievable back there,” Benn said.

With Wild goalie Matt Hackett pulled for an extra skater, Kyle Brodziak had a prime chance to tie it in the final seconds when Devin Setoguchi’s pass set him up in front of the net for a one-timer. Lehtonen smothered the puck, even though he didn’t appear to realize where it was.

“The only thing I didn’t like about it is he looked behind him, but he had it squeezed in there tight. That gives a coach heart attacks, but that’s just the kind of goaltending we’ve been getting,” Gulutzan said.

Hackett, the rookie making his second straight start, made 24 saves. With Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding both bothered by lower-body injuries, one bright spot for the Wild down the stretch of this lost season is the opportunity to give Hackett more time.

“He’s composed and focused, and technically he’s very sound, and I think we all have to be impressed with what we’ve seen,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said.

For only the second time in 10 games, the Wild kept their opponent scoreless in the first period. They held up in the second period, too. Hackett served up a few big rebounds but received a loud cheer from the crowd when he located a loose puck in the crease and scissor-kicked his legs together to cover it from Benn.

Benn was around the net all night, so it was fitting he was there for the only goal, too. Benn leads the team with seven game-winners this season.

“Keep playing simple and hard and don’t try to do too much. We’ve been able to eliminate big mistakes, and that’s working,” Lehtonen said.

Morrow has two points in two games since returning from an 18-game absence due to neck and shoulder stiffness. He collided with Wild center Matt Cullen at the end line in the final seconds of the middle frame, knocking knees with Cullen and drawing a tripping penalty that gave the Wild a 4-on-3 advantage. The Stars killed that off, and have given up only one power-play goal in their last 35 short-handed situations. They reached the top 10 in the NHL in that category after being in the bottom third just three weeks ago.

“I give a lot of credit to Dallas. You can see why they’ve been as good as they have been lately, because they just stick with their game,” Yeo said.

The Wild, in danger of posting their lowest point total in 10 years, have won only six times in regulation in their last 40 games — and twice in their last 19 without the aid of a shootout. Beset by injuries to some of their best forwards, their lineup is as depleted as ever. Veilleux played on the first line, and Darroll Powe was again with the second group. They are last in the league with 150 goals.

But the effort was better in this game, and that’s about all they can hope for at this point.

“When we play like that we give ourselves a chance to win every night,” Brodziak said.

NOTES: Cullen hobbled to the locker room but returned in the third period. Wild D Steven Kampfer took a stick to the face and left the ice bleeding in the final frame. … Wild RW Cal Clutterbuck (illness) returned from a three-game absence. RW Nick Johnson was a healthy scratch, two days after Yeo said he needed to see more urgency from his skaters. … Stars D Sheldon Souray (lower body) was scratched for the second straight game. RW Radek Dvorak (ankle) was out, too, after getting hurt in the previous game.

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Iginla tripped, and his stick hit the ice instead of the puck as he fell forward above the slot. But it was lined up just right to make enough contact and send an accidental pass over to Curtis Glencross for the go-ahead goal. That’s the kind of sequence that happens when a team is playing well.

Iginla scored and had that important-yet-unorthodox assist, and the Flames hung on to beat the Wild 4-3 on Sunday for their third straight victory.

“I laughed at him when he came into the pile. I said, ‘Nice pass.’ He’s like, ‘Well, yeah. Didn’t really plan it like that, but it worked out,’” said Glencross, who has a goal in seven straight games, the longest such streak in the NHL this season.

The Flames, who moved into a tie for eighth place with the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference with 76 points, are 4-1-1 in six games this month. Iginla has six goals and five assists in that span. The last one came after Erik Christensen woke the Wild up with two goals in a 2:20 span in the third period to tie it. Even if it was a botched shot to begin with, it became a perfect pass.

“Yeah, it was nice wasn’t it? I was about to shoot, and at the last second I saw him and I fanned on it,” Iginla said, breaking into a chuckle.

The Wild weren’t laughing. They’re 1-5-1 in their last seven games, with only two wins in regulation in their last 18 contests.

“Things just fell apart quickly, and we’ve got to figure out a way to stop that,” said goalie Matt Hackett.

Sven Baertschi scored his first career goal to put the Flames up 2-0 just 1:43 into the final frame. Olli Jokinen gave the Flames another goal with 5:18 remaining, insurance for Devin Setoguchi’s flip-in of a loose puck he kept out of Miikka Kiprusoff’s reach with 1:04 left.

The Flames missed the postseason each of the last two years and haven’t won a playoff series since their run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2004, but they’re in the conversation entering the final stretch of the regular season.

“It’s huge for us. We’ve been battling, and we’ve been kind of nipping at the heels here for a while. We’re playing well right at the right time,” Glencross said.

The shots were 17-6 at one point in the second period in favor of the Flames, but the depleted Wild outshot them 21-8 the rest of the way. Christensen’s first goal bounced off Anton Babchuk’s stick.

“I miss scoring. … But it still doesn’t take away the feeling of the way the game ended up,” Christensen said.

The next one prompted Flames coach Brent Sutter to call timeout.

“I got blood pressure pills. Believe me. We had some shifts there where we had guys standing around and let them get some momentum on us. But you know what? We found a way to be resilient there too,” Sutter said.

In 33 games at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center, Iginla has scored 17 times. With 35 all-time goals against the Wild, he’s by far the leading opponent scorer over the franchise’s 11 seasons. Of the 18 skaters in their lineup this game, the Wild had only six players who’ve scored that many times in their entire career, let alone against one team.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion), Mikko Koivu (shoulder) and Cal Clutterbuck (illness) sat next to each other in suits in the press box, a fitting image for this once-promising season gone wrong. Coach Mike Yeo was upset by a lack of urgency and effort by a handful of players he didn’t name, and he threatened to make them healthy scratches in the future.

“We’re going to be playing guys that want to play hard,” Yeo said.

Despite their resurgence in the second part of this game, the Wild couldn’t make up for their mistakes down the stretch.

“We’re just not a team that can be in that situation right now. It’s unfortunate that we have those little lapses,” Christensen said.

NOTES: Glencross set a career high with his 25th goal. … Acquired in a Feb. 2 trade with the New York Rangers, Christensen scored for the first time in 16 games with the Wild. His last goal was Nov. 5.

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After scoring only once in six previous attempts in the tiebreaker this season, Heatley buried the winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout on Thursday night to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.

After Wild goalie Matt Hackett stopped Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Heatley put a backhander past Jason LaBarbera to win it.

“I know he is aggressive and moves around,” Heatley said. “When I came in on him, I saw an opening and went to the backhand.”

Hackett took over for Josh Harding, who left with an undisclosed lower body injury at 11:38 of the second period. Hackett, recalled from AHL Houston on March 1, stopped 17 of 19 shots to improve to 3-2.

“The win was impressive,” Hackett said. “I let some pretty big rebounds out there, but the guys really battled. This was a great character win.”

Harding, who left after stopping a drive from Ekman-Larsson, will be evaluated on Friday. He finished with 24 saves. Hackett played in his eighth game of the season.

The Wild won for the first time in six games. The Coyotes have lost five straight. Phoenix remained one point ahead of San Jose for seventh place in the Western Conference. The Sharks will visit the Coyotes on Saturday.

Phoenix has been outscored 10-1 in the first period of its last five games.

“We’re not the kind of team geared to come from behind,” LaBarbera said. “We play better with a lead, and that’s our identity. When you’re chasing the game, it makes everything much more difficult on everybody.”

Kyle Brodziak and Steven Kampfer scored first-period goals for the Wild.

Raffi Torres got the Coyotes within 2-1 when he scored at 1:40 of the third period, netting his 11th goal of the season off a pass from defenseman Michael Stone. Just 1:05 later, Lauri Korpikoski tied it when he converted a pass from Antoine Vermette for his 15th goal.

“Phoenix played like a desperate team,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said.

Minnesota scored two goals within 1:58 early in the opening period.

Defenseman Keith Yandle’s pass through the middle was intercepted by Darroll Powe, whose 25-foot drive was tipped in by Brodziak at 4:06. Kampfer, recalled from Houston on March 3, scored his first of the season on a wrist shot from inside the left circle at 5:04.

The Coyotes outshot the Wild 32-15 through the first two periods, but couldn’t score.

“We had over 80 attempts at the net, and you need to make some of these count,” Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. “You can’t put yourself in holes like that. That’s a recipe for disaster, and that’s not the first time we’ve seen that.”

NOTES: Stone’s assist on Torres’ goal was his first NHL point. … Phoenix’s Martin Hanzal was struck in the face by a high stick late in the first period, and didn’t return.

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And once they found that rhythm, the Avalanche rolled to one of their most lopsided wins of the season.

Jamie McGinn scored the first of a four-goal flurry in the second period and Varlamov stopped 21 shots as the Avalanche routed the struggling Minnesota Wild 7-1 on Tuesday night.

Jay McClement, Jan Hejda, Mark Olver, Ryan O’Reilly, David Jones and Cody McLeod also got into the scoring act as well for the Avalanche, who have won six of eight to climb back into the playoff picture.

Behind a sizzling goaltender, too.

Varlamov is 5-1-0 in his last six contests with a 0.83 goals-against average. The young Russian is in the midst of one of his finest seasons in the league. He’s already set career-bests in wins (20), games (41) and shutouts (4).

Varlamov has been particularly tough on the Wild in recent days, stopping 30 shots in a 2-0 win over the Wild on Sunday. He then picked right back up where he left off.

He nearly had another shutout, only to have Devin Setoguchi spoil it with a penalty shot early in the third.

“That’s my job to stop the puck, and sometimes make the huge saves,” Varlamov nonchalantly said. “I’m just trying to help the guys win.”

Colorado scored three times in a span of 1:56 midway through the second period. After Olver’s goal made it 4-0, the Wild pulled Matt Hackett and summoned in Josh Harding, who proceeded to be beaten by O’Reilly.

Steve Downie had a career-high three assists, while Gabriel Landeskog added two for the Avalanche.

Downie made his return to the ice after sitting out a game with a shoulder ailment. He has been an offensive spark plug since coming over in a deal with Tampa Bay, compiling 10 points in seven games.

McGinn has been just as impressive since his arrival. The gritty forward was brought in from San Jose at the trade deadline and has instantly fit into the Avalanche’s fast-paced style of play.

He had both goals in the win over Minnesota on Sunday and added another as he redirected a shot past Hackett on a power play, part of his Gordie Howe hat trick. He also added an assist and was involved in a fight.

“I’m getting more comfortable out there and I’m starting to enjoy being in the locker room,” McGinn said. “They are awesome in here.”

Avalanche coach Joe Sacco couldn’t be more thrilled with the additions of Downie and McGinn.

“Those two guys have made a good impact on our hockey team so far,” said Sacco, whose team tied a season high with their seven-goal outburst. “It can get a little infectious. It can rub off on other guys.”

The Avalanche received a scare midway through the last period when Matt Duchene crumbled to the ice after being tripped by Nick Palmieri’s stick. Duchene, who just recently returned from a knee injury that sidelined him for 20 games, had to be helped off the ice by a trainer and Peter Mueller.

After the game, Sacco said Duchene hurt his ankle and the team will know more Wednesday.

“We hope he will be OK,” Landeskog said.

The depleted Wild were without forward Cal Clutterbuck (sickness) and defenseman Justin Falk (lower body). The team already was missing captain Mikko Koivu (shoulder), wings Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) and Guillaume Latendresse (concussion) and goalie Niklas Backstrom (strained groin).

The Wild have now been outscored 15-1 in their last three games and tumbled even farther out of the playoff chase.

“I can assure you that these guys care,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “These guys are hurting right now. It’s real hard for guys emotionally to come to the rink and get your mind straight with what we’re going through right now. If you want to get excited about something, I can guarantee this is a group that will keep on fighting.”

Hackett agreed with the assessment.

“We are going to improve off of this,” Hackett said.

Colorado took the early lead when a rebound off the pads of Hackett bounced right to a hard-charging McClement. He buried it past a sliding Hackett for his 10th goal of the season.

After that, the game quickly turned chippy. There were more twice as many penalty minutes (40) in the opening period than shots on goal (21). Kyle Brodziak drew a 10-minute misconduct after he shoved McGinn.

Even the usually mild-mannered Landeskog got into the middle of things. Riled up over being tripped, Landeskog dropped the gloves and attempted to take on Jed Ortmeyer, but the fight was hastily halted and both were sent to the box for roughing.

This has been a solid season for Landeskog, who’s making a strong case for rookie of the year as he leads all first-year players in shots and is tied with New Jersey’s Adam Henrique for the scoring lead with 43 points.

NOTES: Avs D Ryan O’Byrne missed his seventh game with a knee injury. The team is hopeful he might be available Thursday in Nashville. … Varlamov played in his 100th career game. … The Wild are 0-4-1 in their last five games.

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Last week turned out to be his final game with San Jose. Now he’s adjusting to a fledgling Colorado team gaining confidence by the day.

McGinn got his first career two-goal game just 8:25 into the night, giving the Avalanche all the scoring they needed in a 2-0 victory over the Wild on Sunday.

The Avalanche moved into a tie for ninth place with Los Angeles, just one point behind San Jose. After a four-game winning streak — scoring four or more goals in each of those contests — they lost two in a row at home this week by a combined 7-1 margin, to last-place Columbus and streaking Pittsburgh.

“This is huge. After dropping two we knew we needed these two points,” McGinn said. “Everyone ahead of us is winning right now, so we have to stay in the hunt. It’s going to be an interesting final stretch here, and we want to be a part of it too.”

The Wild are all but out. For the seventh straight game, they gave up the first goal. Five of those have been in the first three minutes, including here when McGinn poked in a rebound 1:42 into the game. That was exactly the same amount of elapsed time San Jose scored on a week ago here, when McGinn got an assist. The 23-year-old left wing was acquired by the Avalanche in a trade hours later.

“It’s always difficult when you’re so used to being in a certain situation and then all of a sudden things change for you. As a coach you have to take those kinds of things into consideration and remember it’s a whole new environment for him,” said coach Joe Sacco, who put McGinn on a line with Paul Stastny and David Jones.

Peter Mueller and Stefan Elliott assisted in that order on both goals, spoiling rookie Matt Hackett’s first start in the Wild net at home after five scattered appearances, including one start on the road. Semyon Varmalov had his fourth shutout of the season for the Avalanche, stopping 30 shots.

“I think I got lots of tough moments today,” Varmalov said. “They’re a very good team, and I think I was playing too deep a little bit.”

They’re not playing very well, if they do have the capability to be a very good team.

After a sluggish first period, the Wild revved up their attack and generated several prime scoring chances. Familiarly, none of them yielded goals. The Wild were scoreless for the third time in their last four games, and they fell to 8-21-7 since they had the NHL’s best record in mid-December. They were booed off the ice.

“I have to find a way to make sure we’re ready to go at the drop of the puck the next game,” said coach Mike Yeo, who has had to constantly shuffle his lines to cope with the loss of captain Mikko Koivu (shoulder) and wings Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) and Guillaume Latendresse (concussion).

With Jones shielding Hackett a little later in the period during a power play, McGinn jumped on another juicy rebound and sent the puck over Hackett’s head to make it 2-0. Darroll Powe’s holding penalty set up the man-advantage situation. Powe, a checking specialist, played on the second line with Matt Cullen and Devin Setoguchi, another sign of how depleted the Wild have been.

“I think it’s more between the ears than it is the ability of a player,” Yeo said, assessing the team’s struggles.

With first-round draft pick Gabriel Landeskog — the NHL’s rookie of the month for February — leading the charge with 18 goals and 23 assists, the Avalanche have improved steadily this season behind a group of promising young players. McGinn added another name to the list when he was acquired this week.

“They’ve got a lot of talent, especially some of those young guys. They’ve really adapted to the league. Every single game, they get better and better,” Wild defenseman Tom Gilbert said.

Varmalov is another one of those guys, at age 23. He’s 4-1 in his last five starts with a total of only four goals allowed.

“He’s been very solid for us lately here, and we’re going to need that type of play down the stretch,” Sacco said.

Hackett made 34 saves, with regular Niklas Backstrom out another two to four weeks with a strained groin muscle and backup Josh Harding resting after giving up six goals the previous game at Detroit and getting pulled in the third period. Hackett said he was nervous his first time playing at Xcel Energy Center, but a little early anxiety in the net was the least of the Wild’s problems.

NOTES: Avalanche LW Mike Connolly made his NHL debut after being recalled from the AHL. The former University of Minnesota Duluth star last played at Xcel Energy Center last April, when the Bulldogs won the NCAA championship. Connolly came with McGinn in the trade with San Jose. … The Wild also recalled a prospect they recently picked up in a trade, D Steven Kampfer. He became the 44th player to take the ice this season for the Wild, most in the NHL and a franchise record. … Avalanche RW Steve Downie, another recent trade acquisition, was scratched because of a shoulder injury sustained Saturday.

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Filppula had two goals and an assist, surpassing 20 goals for the first time in his career, Jimmy Howard made 19 saves for his 11th career shutout, and Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and two assists in the Detroit Red Wings’ 6-0 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.

The Red Wings snapped the two-game skid at home that followed their NHL record 23-game winning streak in Detroit.

Filppula has been reluctant to shoot the puck in his previous five seasons. But this season, he’s putting shots on net more often and already has career highs in goals, assists and points (53) in 64 games.

“He’s always been a good passer, but he refused to shoot,” Zetterberg said of Filppula. “This year, he’s shooting more.”

Filppula doesn’t generally think about personal stats.

“I don’t think about points too much,” he said. “I think when you’re playing well … I always knew that the points come when you’re doing good things. But definitely, it’s always nice to get goals and definitely 20 is a good number for me.”

Ian White had a goal and an assist, and Brendan Smith and Darren Helm also scored for the Red Wings. Niklas Kronwall had three assists. It was Howard’s sixth shutout of the season.

Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom missed his second game with a deep bone bruise to his right ankle. He is expected to miss at least two more games.

Filppula opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the game when he put in a rebound for his 20th goal. Smith’s first NHL goal made it 2-0 with 3:04 left when he put in a loose puck from a goal-mouth scramble.

“We gave ‘em the first two goals and put ourselves in a real tough spot,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “We didn’t respond well.”

Detroit scored three times in the second period to blow the game open.

Helm got his eighth goal 7:05 into the middle period when he beat Josh Harding from the inside edge of the left circle. Filppula’s second goal of the game came with 3:25 left in the second on a one-time slap shot from the high slot. White’s seventh goal came 1:07 later.

Zetterberg scored 5:30 into the third period, which sent Harding to the showers in favor of Matt Hackett. Harding stopped 23 shots, and Hackett made six saves for Minnesota.

Notes: The Red Wings were also without C Pavel Datsyuk (arthroscopic knee surgery) and D Jonathan Ericsson (broken left wrist). … Minnesota was without G Niklas Backstrom, who suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Montreal. … Red Wings D Kyle Quincey returned after missing a game with a sore groin. … Hackett is the nephew of former NHL goalie Jeff Hackett and played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League with the Plymouth Whalers, who are based in suburban Detroit. … Detroit F Todd Bertuzzi left with a groin injury and is day-to-day. … The six goals were the most allowed by the Wild in a game this season.
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Backstrom was hurt early in the first period of Thursday’s shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens and had to be helped off the ice.

The Wild brought up Hackett from their AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, before Friday’s game at Detroit. Josh Harding is expected to start against the Red Wings.

The 21-year-old Hackett is 2-0 with an 0.68 goals against average and a .979 save percentage in four games with the Wild this season, stopping 94 of 96 shots on goal against him. He was Minnesota’s third-round draft pick in 2009.

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The Wild trailed 4-1 going into the final four minutes of regulation and scored three times. Matt Kassian got his second of the game, and Dany Heatley scored before Devin Setoguchi tied it with the Wild playing with six attackers with 9 seconds to play.

Boos poured down from the seats for a team that has blown leads repeatedly this season. But Desharnais got the only shootout goal and Setoguchi lost the puck, then fell on the Wild’s last attempt to give Montreal the win, ending a season-high five-game losing streak.

P.K. Subban, Lars Eller and Max Pacioretty scored as Montreal’s 29th-ranked power play got three for the first time this season.

Desharnais, who had three points, added a goal with both teams a man short.

Kassian scored his first two NHL goals for Minnesota, 3-7-3 in its last 13 games.

Montreal played the Wild for the first time since an 8-1 win in Minnesota last season sparked by Subban’s hat trick.

A sellout of 21,273 was announced, but there were hundreds of empty seats on a snowy night for a Montreal squad that started the day in last place in the Eastern Conference.

It was an eventful game from the start as Ryan White and Stephane Veilleux squared off for a fight only 10 seconds in.

A couple of minor penalties later, Subban scored on a two-man advantage with a point blast at 2:33.

Only 19 seconds later, Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom seemed to pull something in a leg or groin and left the game in favor of Josh Harding, who was beaten at 4:28 on Eller’s first power-play goal as a Canadien. There was no immediate word on Backstrom’s condition.

Minnesota got one back as Alexei Emelin was felled by an uncalled cross-check that left Kassian open to poke in Darroll Powe’s pass. It was Kassian’s first goal in 21 career NHL games.

White got another fighting major and a misconduct later in the period for throwing punches at Veilleux, who had slashed goalie Carey Price.

Pacioretty, on his off wing to the right of Harding, put in his 26th of the season midway in the second period.

Desharnais tapped in a rebound of Pacioretty’s short in the third period for his third goal in as many games.

Kassian, back in the lineup after sitting out two games, skated to the net and banged in his own rebound with a backhander with 3:53 left.

Coach Randy Cunneyworth’s starting lineup included Blake Geoffrion, grandson of Habs great Bernard (Boom Boom) Geoffrion and great-grandson of Howie Morenz. He played his first home game as a Canadien since he was acquired from Nashville two weeks ago.

Canadiens winger Brad Staubitz, claimed off waivers Monday, played against his former team.

Notes: Linesman Pierre Champoux was honored for working his 1,500th career game. His family joined him at center ice as he received a crystal trophy in a pregame ceremony. . . Montreal forward Aaron Palushaj, cut by a high-stick, left the game in the first period. . . Montreal scratched defenseman Rafael Diaz. Erik Christensen didn’t play for the Wild.

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Yet when he does play, Bernier is still expected to be sharp, make saves and win games. On Tuesday night, Bernier looked like an everyday goalie, shutting out Minnesota 4-0 in a game with playoff implications for the Kings.

Despite being only his second start in February, Bernier stopped 26 shots, secured his first victory since Jan. 9, and didn’t give up a goal for the first time since shutting out Edmonton last March.

The performance came at a crucial time for Los Angeles (29-23-12). After losing five of six games, the victory over the Wild allowed the Kings to move into a tie with Dallas and Colorado for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“I thought he was awesome, he was the best player on the ice,” Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. “It’s great for him. The last five or six minutes, the team played for their goalie because he’s given us a real good opportunity to win the game.”

Bernier found out after Monday’s loss at Nashville that he would be starting against the Wild.

“It’s not easy, but that’s my job,” Bernier said. “I’ve got to make sure I’m ready every time I step in if I want to get back in.”

Bernier’s fifth career shutout was largely free of drama. Minnesota (28-26-9) had very few sustained stretches in the Los Angeles zone and had few good scoring chances. The best opportunity for the Wild came on a second-period three-on-two break, but Bernier stopped Tom Gilbert’s shot from the slot.

“We kept everything to the outside,” Bernier said. “On that (power play) in the second period, I knew that was a big (penalty kill) for us and the boys did a heck of a job. From there after, we had a lot of confidence and we shut the door.”

It didn’t hurt that the Kings jumped on the Wild early. One night after feeling like they missed opportunities against the Predators, Los Angeles scored 44 seconds into the game and led 3-0 after the first period.

Justin Williams scored the initial quick goal when he tipped a shot from the point and the puck bounced through the legs of goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who stopped just 11 shots for Minnesota.

Dwight King gave the Kings a 2-0 lead midway in the first period as Los Angeles took advantage of a Minnesota defensive mistake. Anze Kopitar found King all alone in front of the net and he quickly converted.

Kopitar stretched the lead to 3-0 late in the first period when he ran a perfect give-and-go with Dustin Brown. Brown had a pair of first-period assists for the Kings.

That cushion was more than enough for Bernier against the Wild.

“It’s good to play with a lead,” Bernier said. “Everyone was calmer, we could just play our style. As a team, we really came out strong. We knew it was a really big two points for us.”

While Los Angeles was happy to have won a game against another team in the Western Conference playoff race, the Wild were disappointed after a game filled with turnovers and defensive mistakes.

“You create your own breaks in this game, we didn’t do that,” Minnesota’s Kyle Brodziak said. “We didn’t create any breaks because we didn’t deserve any and earn any. It’s another game where we started on our heels and they took it to us and we didn’t fight back.”

Offensively things weren’t any better.

“We had nothing offensively,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “There was too many things missing in our game to even have a sniff offensively. Puck support, battle level, going into hard areas, making plays, executing. It’s kind of a long list.”

Notes: Brown has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in the past five games. … Los Angeles C Jeff Carter is still looking for his first point since being acquired from Columbus last week. … Minnesota D Tom Gilbert, a Twin Cities native the Wild acquired Monday from Edmonton, was called for a holding penalty just 4:59 into the game. … The Kings, a popular preseason pick to make the NHL playoffs, went 5-7-2 in February. Minnesota, which had the best record in the NHL at one point in December, was 4-7-2. The Wild is 8-19-6 since a Dec. 10 victory at Phoenix. … Minnesota plays four of its next five games on the road.

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Well, that’s because it is.

Gilbert grew up less than 20 miles from the Minnesota Wild’s St. Paul headquarters and starred for Bloomington Jefferson High School before a standout college career at Wisconsin. Nearly through his fifth NHL season, Gilbert was dealt by the Oilers to the Wild for fellow defenseman Nick Schultz.

Gilbert took part in Minnesota’s morning skate before Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, his scheduled debut on a revamped blue line after a flurry of trades before the NHL’s deadline. Defensemen Marek Zidlicky, Nick Schultz and Greg Zanon were traded away, and Gilbert and Kurtis Foster were acquired to join Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, Nate Prosser, Justin Falk and Mike Lundin.

The Wild wanted more of a puck-moving, offensive-minded player, enough that they were willing to move their longest-tenured skater in Schultz, a popular, reliable, durable leader who was a pure stay-at-home defenseman. In Gilbert they got a guy who once had a 40-assist season, in 2008-09. The 29-year-old has 33 goals and 158 points in 384 career games.

“It’s something that I take pride in, trying to get the puck up the ice as soon as possible,” Gilbert said.

He’ll see plenty of time on the power play as well, and he’ll be asked to hold important opposing players in check. When the Oilers played the Wild, Gilbert was often lined up against center Mikko Koivu.

“Not only can he make plays, but they had some confidence in what he can do defensively. As much as anything else, we needed to make improvements as far as how our entire group, our back end, contributes offensively,” coach Mike Yeo said.

Gilbert led the Oilers in ice time with an average of nearly 23 minutes per game. The 29-year-old was drafted by Edmonton in 2002. Gilbert will become the seventh native Minnesotan to play for the Wild this season. Prosser (Elk River), Lundin (Apple Valley), Matt Cullen (Moorhead), Jarod Palmer (Fridley), Chad Rau (Eden Prairie) and Jeff Taffe (Hastings) are the others.

Gilbert will pair with Falk, for now. He downplayed the difficulty of adjusting to a new system with only 20 games to go in the regular season.

“Just go out there and play hockey,” was the way he described his mindset. “Most teams are pretty similar. There’s a few tactics that are different but that comes with time.”

With Gilbert, Foster and forwards Stephane Veilleux and Nick Palmieiri, the Wild have some fresh blood for their outside shot at getting back to the playoffs.

“All those guys are coming in here, and there’s no thoughts about where we were or, ‘How did we get there?’” Their only thought is where we’re at right now, and they’re excited about the opportunity to try to gain some ground on some teams,” Yeo said.

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General manager Chuck Fletcher added two offensively skilled defensemen before Monday’s trade deadline, insisting they will help this season just as much as they will in the future as he tries to shape a Stanley Cup contender.

Nick Schultz, the longest-tenured athlete among Minnesota’s four major professional teams, was traded to Edmonton for fellow defenseman Tom Gilbert, a transaction that shocked Schultz and his admiring teammates after practice. Then another veteran blue-liner was dealt when Greg Zanon went to Boston for prospect Steven Kampfer.

“We have some good hockey players on our team, but we just need a few more and that’s our challenge,” Fletcher said.

Backup goalie Josh Harding, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer like Zanon, stayed on the team, one sign that the Wild front office remained focused on trying to reach the postseason for the first time in four years. Minnesota is five points out of the last spot but behind four teams to get it.

“We’re certainly competing for a playoff spot. We have some work to do, but we’ve … shown a lot of heart recently,” Fletcher said. “And we certainly feel we have the capability to take a run at this.”

He added: “We weren’t interested in being ‘sellers.’ All the moves we made we feel had a present component and a future component.”

Though Schultz, the second draft pick in Wild history, made his NHL debut in 2001, more than five years before Gilbert, they’re the same age with similar-paying contracts that each run through the 2013-14 season.

But Schultz is a pure stay-at-home defenseman who scored his first goal of the season Sunday to break a 101-game streak without one in his final game with the Wild. Gilbert is the kind of puck-mover the Wild need more of, and 11 of his 33 career goals have been on power plays. He’s been just as durable as Schultz, the all-time Wild leader in games played, and he managed 40 assists one season, in 2008-09.

As a bonus for Wild fans, he’s a local boy, a former Bloomington Jefferson High School star who went on to the University of Wisconsin. Fletcher also said he feels like Gilbert has been unfairly cast as an offensive-minded player.

“He has a very solid two-way game,” Fletcher said.

The dressing room after practice on Monday was silent after players learned that Schultz was traded. His eyes were wet with tears when he spoke to the media.

“Basically all I know is being here, playing here and being part of this team,” Schultz said.

The Wild also announced that forward Brad Staubitz was claimed off re-entry waivers by the Montreal Canadiens, another player on the opening-day lineup that won’t be around for the stretch run. Kampfer won’t be for now. He’ll report to the AHL affiliate in Houston.

The 23-year-old Kampfer, a standout at the University of Michigan, split this season between the Bruins and their AHL affiliate in Providence. In 10 games with Boston, he had two assists and a plus-6 rating. Kampfer had five goals and five assists last season as a rookie.

The 31-year-old Zanon had two goals and four assists in 39 games, a shot-blocking specialist who found himself a healthy scratch this season several times. He’s the kind of gritty veteran contenders like the Bruins can always use. So that leaves the Wild, who also dealt dissatisfied defenseman Marek Zidlicky on Friday, with a new-look blue line they hope will generate more of a spark instead of spending too much time in their own zone.

Still, Fletcher acknowledged the difficulty of dealing a popular stalwart like Schultz.

“I don’t think it’s any secret we’ve struggled offensively this season, and I think this is a natural evolution for our team,” Fletcher said, adding: “It wasn’t an easy price. Let’s put it that way.”

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The deal was done Monday right before the NHL’s trading deadline. Zanon was the third Wild defenseman dealt in the last four days. Marek Zidlicky went to New Jersey and Nick Schultz was sent to Edmonton.

The 31-year-old Zanon will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Kampfer is 23, with five goals in 48 career games with the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins, who were looking for another gritty veteran on the blue line.

The Oilers sent defenseman Tom Gilbert for Schultz, and former Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster was reacquired from the Devils in the package for Zidlicky. Kampfer will report to Minnesota’s AHL affiliate.

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The Sharks played more than half of the night without head coach Todd McLellan, who was inadvertently hit in the head with a stick during a play in front of the bench early in the second period. After staying down for a bit, McLellan walked gingerly to the locker room.

That scary scene came seconds after Nick Schultz’s first goal of the season — a slap shot just four seconds into a Wild power play — tied the game at 2. Kyle Brodziak won a faceoff and sent the puck to Schultz, who zinged it past Sharks defenseman Jim Vandermeer.

Brent Burns mimicked his former teammate’s score with a one-timed slap shot on a Sharks power play midway through the third period. He skated back to the bench with a big smile on his face, but that’s not the mood the Sharks finished with.

Matt Cullen ended an 18-game goal-less skid with a deflection of Marco Scandella’s shot from the blue. The puck bounced in the goal like a basketball with 5:27 remaining. Then just 74 seconds later, Ortmeyer sliced across the slot and got a stick on Jared Spurgeon’s shot.

Joe Thornton and Tommy Wingels each scored in the first period for the Sharks, who were flat for the remainder of the middle frame after McLellan’s injury. The Wild held a 13-2 shots on goal advantage in that period.

Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Wild, his first after 10 games without one.

The Sharks, who lost 6-2 to the Nashville Predators on Saturday, face a four-game homestand next week. They’ve fallen behind the Phoenix Coyotes in the Pacific Division and are only one point ahead of the eighth-place Dallas Stars in the Western Conference race.

They’ve been lacking fundamentals, confidence and a strong penalty kill.

This was the last meeting of the season for these teams that made three trades this summer, including the Burns-Devin Setoguchi deal the day of the draft. Dany Heatley and Martin Havlat were the pieces in the other big swap. Until Burns took that swing midway through the third period, none of the traded players had scored on their former team.

The Wild won three of the four games, including two in regulation.

The Wild welcomed three new players to their lineup: defenseman Kurtis Foster, right wing Nick Palmieri and left wing Stephane Veilleux. They were acquired on Friday with draft picks from the New Jersey Devils for dissatisfied defenseman Marek Zidlicky. The Wild have used an NHL-most and franchise-record 42 players this season, nearly double the active roster limit.

With captain Mikko Koivu out for a fifth straight game because of an undisclosed injury, Brodziak centered the first line between Heatley and Setoguchi. Palmieri joined Clutterbuck and Cullen on the second line.

NOTES: Schultz’s last goal was on Jan. 3, 2011, nearly 14 months ago. … Thornton has 20 points in his last 14 games.

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Loui Eriksson and Eric Nystrom added goals for the Stars, who improved to 68 points.

Wandell scored the game’s first goal, and added an empty-netter at 19:07 of the third.

Dallas is eighth in the Western Conference, three points behind Phoenix.

The Stars earned their 1,500th victory in Minnesota-Dallas franchise history, 742 coming since the team moved to Texas in 1993. Dallas has won 16 in a row at home against the Wild, with Minnesota’s last road victory over the Stars coming on March 21, 2003.

The Wild has fallen out of the top eight in the West with a 2-6-2 slide.

Minnesota’s Devin Setoguchi ended Lehtonen’s bid for his 20th career shutout when Setoguchi captitalized on a 5 on 3 with his 15th goal of the season with 7:17 to go in the final period.

Earlier Friday, the Wild traded defenseman Marek Zidlicky to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Kurtis Foster, forwards Nick Palmieri and Stephane Veilleux, a second-round pick in the 2012 draft and a conditional third-rounder in 2013.

Zidlicky’s been unhappy in Minnesota and was a healthy scratch Friday. He waived his no-trade clause to go to New Jersey.

The Stars and Wild were coming off victories Thursday night. Minnesota pulled out a 3-2 shootout win at Florida, while Dallas was claiming a 3-1 road decision over Chicago.

Entering Friday, Dallas had been 0-9-2 on the second leg of back-to-backs this season.

Wandell put the Stars in front in the first period when he swept his own rebound past goalie Niklas Backstrom for his fifth of the season.

Eriksson skated up the left side and to the net, registering his 20th of the season on a wrist shot later in the period.

When Nystrom racked up his 16th goal from the slot at 3:53 of the second period against the team that traded him to Dallas earlier in the season, Wild coach Mike Yeo replaced Backstrom with Matt Hackett.

From there, the Stars went on to complete their first three-game winning streak since Dec. 10-15.

NOTES: Dallas rookie D Philip Larsen was struck in the helmet by a slap shot off the stick of Minnesota’s Matt Cullen with 2:50 left in the second period. Larsen went to the locker room for treatment and was done for the night. … Lehtonen has started 15 of Dallas’ last 17 games. … C Jamie Benn (leg), LW Brenden Morrow (neck, shoulder) and C Jake Dowell (finger) were out for Dallas. … Minnesota was without C Mikko Koivu (undisclosed), D Mike Lundin (lower body), G Josh Harding (undisclosed injury), D Clayton Stoner (leg), LW Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) and RW Carson McMillan (lower body). … With Monday’s deadline approaching, several Stars have been mentioned as trade targets, including Morrow, LW Steve Ott, RW Michael Ryder and C Mike Ribeiro. … Minnesota is 4-2-2 in the second game of back-to-backs.

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President Lou Lamoriello announced the deal during the second period of the Devils’ game with the Vancouver Canucks, saying that defenseman Kurtis Foster, forwards Nick Palmieri and Stephane Veilleux, Washington’s second-round choice in the 2012 draft and a conditional choice in 2013 would be headed to Minnesota.

“We had an opportunity to get an experienced right-hand shot, puck-moving defenseman who can quarterback the power play and who had a lot of experience,” Lamoriello said.

The Devils longtime executive did not think he gave up a lot, noting that Palmieri and Veilleux have split time between the NHL and minor leagues this season and that Zidlicky can do more than Foster, who was acquired earlier this year from Anaheim.

Zidlicky has 14 assists and 24 penalty minutes in 41 games with the Wild this season. The 35-year-old has career totals of 60 goals — 40 on the power play — and 238 assists in eight seasons with Nashville and Minnesota. He had a career-best 53 points in his rookie season in Nashville in 2003-04.

“(Zidlicky) is a good player who’s had a good career. He’s a competitor,” Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher said. “He’s going to a team with a fresh start who’ll probably play well there.”

Zidlicky was in Dallas on Friday and Lamoriello could not say when he would join the team.

“We had an interest in him when he was traded to Minnesota,” Lamoriello said of the Czech native.

Rookie defenseman Adam Larsson (back) and veteran Henrik Tallinder (blood clot) have been sidelined in recent weeks. Larsson is currently day to day and Lamoriello hopes to have Tallinder back by the end of the season.

Lamoriello would not say whether the Devils will make more deals before Monday’s trade deadline.

“You never know,” he said, adding he would do anything to make the team better.

Minnesota may have some work ahead, as well, before the deadline. But either way, Fletcher is pleased so far.

“Anytime you put three players on your NHL roster,” Fletcher said, “it makes you better.”

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It’s the third consecutive season the Wild have kept their season ticket prices the same.

The team says season ticket holders will begin receiving renewal notices for the 2012-2013 season. The notice includes a link to a website where season ticket holders can complete the transaction online.

Season ticket holders who renew for next season by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 23, will be eligible for the “Pay as we Play” program for postseason tickets. That program initiates charges only for confirmed home playoff games. They’ll also receive “Wild Bucks” food and beverage gift cards, based on their payment plan.

The Wild also announced season ticket prices for the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.

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Matt Cullen and Erik Christensen scored in the tiebreaker to lift the Wild to a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. The Wild had lost three shootouts in a row and six of seven.

Cullen and Kyle Brodziak scored in regulation, Dany Heatley had two assists, and Niklas Backstrom stopped 41 shots for the Wild.

Christensen scored the first goal in the shootout, followed by Cullen. Backstrom stopped Kris Versteeg and Sean Bergenheim to seal the win. Cullen is 7-for-13 in shootout attempts this season.

“It’s nice, you get two goals like that bang-bang right off the hop, but great for Backstrom, too, first off for getting us to that point,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “He stood in tall for us, and then in the shootout he was great, too.”

The Wild won for just the second time in nine games.

“These points are valuable. Whether we like the shootout or not, it’s part of our game,” Christensen said. “You have to be good at them.”

Bergenheim and Mikael Samuelsson scored for the Panthers, who got 26 saves from Jose Theodore. Florida has lost four straight.

“You get 40-plus shots, you’ve got to find a couple more goals in there somewhere,” Panthers center Stephen Weiss said.

Florida tied it at 2 on Bergenheim’s goal with 4:12 left in the third period. Bergenheim grabbed a loose puck in traffic in front and wrapped a shot around a defensive player and past Backstrom.

Minnesota had taken a 2-1 lead on Cullen’s power-play goal earlier in the period. Heatley’s shot was blocked by Theodore, but Cullen grabbed the loose puck in front and swept it into the open net at 1:14. Cullen had gone 15 games without a goal before he scored against Boston on Sunday.

“It was nice to get that extra point,” Cullen said. “We battled really hard. Every point is at a premium right now. That was so important for us to get both points.”

Florida took a 1-0 lead on Samuelsson’s power-play goal in the second. Weiss took a shot from the right circle that hit the post and bounced off Tomas Kopecky and out to Samuelsson in the left circle. His wrist shot beat Backstrom on the stick side at 13:23.

The Wild tied it with 20 seconds left in the second. Marek Zidlicky took a shot from just inside the blue line that was tipped by Heatley. The puck hit Theodore’s blocker and came out to Brodziak, who scored on the rebound.

“That’s what we needed to do,” Brodziak said. “Both times we got pucks to the net, we had a guy standing there for the rebound and it paid off. It’s a good recipe that we’ve got to stick with.”

The Panthers fell to second place behind Winnipeg in the Southeast Division, who beat Tampa Bay 4-3 on Thursday night.

“We can’t expect other teams to lose every game. We have to bear down and do our part,” Samuelsson said. “If you’re not winning games, you’re not making the playoffs.”

NOTES: Weiss played in his 614th game for the Panthers, passing Radek Dvorak for the most in franchise history. … D Ed Jovanovski returned to the Panthers lineup after missing 14 games because of a broken right hand. … Florida recalled RW Michal Repik and C Jonathan Matsumoto from AHL San Antonio. D Nolan Yonkman was assigned to San Antonio. … The Wild recalled G Matt Hackett from AHL Houston on Wednesday. Hackett backed up Backstrom, and G Josh Harding didn’t make the trip. … C Mikko Koivu missed his third straight game because of an undisclosed injury.

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Terms were not disclosed.

Brodziak, in his third year with Minnesota after being acquired from Edmonton in 2009, was due to become an unrestricted free agent.

He’s in the final year of a three-year contract that will pay him $1.3 million this season, and he entered Sunday’s game against Boston third on the team in scoring with 29 points (15 goals, 14 assists).

“Obviously I’m really happy and just happy it’s done with and now I can concentrate more on playing hockey,” Brodziak said after the Wild beat Boston 2-0.

The Oilers drafted Brodziak in 2003. He scored 26 goals in 175 games with Edmonton.

“I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before, so it was definitely on my mind. I’m happy to be part of the organization for a few more years and looking forward to it.”

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The Wild won for only the second time in February — their previous victory came Feb. 2 at Colorado. Minnesota went winless in its next seven games, scoring only nine goals during that span.

Tim Thomas made 27 saves for the Bruins, who have lost six of 10.

Earlier in the day, Rau was called up from Minnesota’s AHL affiliate in Houston to fill in for Warren Peters, who received a one-game suspension for cross-checking David Backes in St. Louis on Saturday night.

The Twin Cities native responded by scoring his second goal of the season to put the Wild up 1-0 in the second period on a wrist shot from the left circle.

Cullen, another Minnesota native, added a power-play score five minutes later for his first goal since Jan. 10.

It was Minnesota’s first two-goal lead since Jan. 31 it they led Nashville 3-0 before losing 5-4. This time, though, the Wild held on thanks to some brilliant saves by Backstrom.

Minnesota doubled its shot total from the previous night against St. Louis — a season-low 13 — by the end of the second period and finished with 29.

The Bruins have lost consecutive road games for the first time this season. The defending Stanley Cup champions are 1-10-1 in 12 games against the Wild.

Notes: Cullen hadn’t scored a power-play goal since Nov. 15. … The game marked the only meeting between the two teams this season, and Boston’s first visit to Minnesota since 2009. … The Bruins have never scored a power-play goal against the Wild. They went 0 for 1 on Sunday. … Minnesota placed D Mike Lundin on injured reserve with a lower-body injury before the game. … Wild captain Mikko Koivu missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. … Sunday was billed as “Hockey Day in America.” Rau scored his previous goal on Jan. 21, which was billed “Hockey Day in Minnesota.”

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