ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Wild suffered another painful loss Wednesday night, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Anaheim Ducks and losing top-line forward Martin Havlat in the process.

Wild coach Todd Richards dropped the dreaded words that seem to be replayed over and over again when he announced Havlat's injury after the game.

"Pulled groin," he said. "Day to day."

For much of their game at the Honda Center, the Wild looked like the equal of the sometimes still-mighty Ducks. But too often, lapses and breakdowns left the Wild's defense and even their power play resembling recess time at an elementary school.

"What really killed us was our power play," Richards said. "Every time we got on the power play, we couldn't do a



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thing. It was tough for us to get it in their zone, and it seemed like they had it on their stick more than we had it on ours."
There were no moral victories on this evening, as the Wild dropped to 1-4 this season, 0-4 on the road.

It might have looked as if you took Corey Perry out of the Anaheim lineup in the first period, it would have been an even game.

Look again.

"The first period, not everybody on the team was ready to compete," a disheartened Richards said. "It was as simple as that."

Perry, breaking in alone on Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom, scored on a Wild giveaway by Shane Hnidy during a sloppy Minnesota line change at the Ducks' blue line less than two minutes into the game. Perry, a 6-foot-3, 206-pounder,

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faked going to his right, then reached back and tucked a backhander behind Backstrom to make it 1-0.
"When you're coming off in a situation like that when it's a 50-50 puck, well, it's selfish," Richards said. "Because really what you're doing, you're putting your teammates in a tough position. It was a bad decision, and it ended up in our net. Not a good way to start the game."

Perry took advantage of another defensive lapse to make it 2-0 at 8:29 of the first period. Bobby Ryan picked up the puck in the left corner and whipped a quick pass to the slot, where Perry was by himself. He calmly drifted to his right in front of the sprawling Backstrom and lifted the puck into the net for his second goal of the evening and fourth of the season.

Although the Wild had a few chances, the key word is "few."

Richards has talked about his team winning battles, and even though the Wild had a few decent chances early in the second period, winning battles was not their strong point. During a Wild power play 7 1/2 minutes into the second period, the Ducks played keep-away for a while.

"Mistakes are going to happen in this game, but you overcome 'em, push forward, and whatever it takes, find a way to win," Wild forward Owen Nolan said. "It doesn't matter if you battle, the bottom line is, you need to win."

The Ducks were threatening to duck walk away with the game when Ryan Carter, a center from White Bear Lake, hammered in the rebound of a shot by Mike Brown to make it 3-0 at 15:11 of the second period, but the Wild's Eric Belanger stole the puck in the neutral zone, skated into the high slot and beat Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller with a quick shot to the upper left corner of the net just 1:24 after Carter's goal to pull Minnesota within 3-1.

The Wild, who rallied from a 3-0 deficit 10 days earlier to win 4-3 in overtime — their only win of the season — obviously had thoughts of duplicating that comeback. They outshot the Ducks 18-8 in the second period but still went into the third trailing by two goals.

They cut the deficit to one when Andrew Brunette scored with 9.1 seconds remaining with Backstrom pulled, but that only made it close.

rpb is wrong. Phil McCracken is useful.

RPB is right. You suck.

In other breaking news the sun rose today.....Havlat is a good player but he is about as durable as Rich Harden

Many that is true, but an incomplete statement.

Interesting. both were fairly durable last year.

rpb is wrong. Phil McCracken is useful.

RPB is right. You suck.