"The Wild have been suffering a slow and agonizing death this season, so it's ironic that their latest setback came during sudden-death play Saturday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center. With their playoff hopes disappearing like snow from the most recent Twin Cities blizzard, the Wild roared back to force overtime before a fluke turnover led to the winning goal with 34 seconds left in overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets escaped with a 5-4 win in front of 18,305. It was the season-high fifth consecutive loss for the Wild, although they picked up a point for forcing overtime to remain mathematically alive in the race for a playoff berth in the NHL West. Do they still have a chance? "It's mathematics," coach Todd Richards said. "We're still there. I don't know how many points we're back right now, but we're still there." Where the Wild are is in 11th place, six points behind eighth-place Nashville after the Predators' 3-1 Saturday night win over Detroit. The Wild have 10 games left, beginning today against the Montreal Canadiens at the X. They outshot the Blue Jackets and rallied to force overtime, but that came to a screaming halt when Brent Burns tried to pass to Mikko Koivu breaking up ice in the Minnesota zone late in overtime. Burns partially fanned on the pass and knocked the puck in front of the Wild net. A surprised Antoine Vermette grabbed it and drove it past goaltender Niklas Backstrom to give the Blue Jackets the win. " Read more: http://www.twincities.com/wild/ci_17654075?nclick_check=1
