Wild Rally Falls Short in OT

When the Sharks went up 3-0, fans kind of hoped that there would be another rally like last Thursday night in San Jose, and low and behold I had hope after Olvecky's goal in the second. The Wild dug themselves into a hole (how many times has that been said this season) but the rally began in the second with Peter Olvecky scoring his second goal of the season (and of his career) to get the Wild within two, and I had hope with the thought that the Wild have rallied before down 3-0 against the same Sharks team, and then Pierre-Marc Bouchard scores 1:02 into the third, just after a powerplay, to cut the deficit to one. Milan Michalek then scores to give the Sharks the two goal lead again, but Owen Nolan comes to the rescue. Nolan scored his 400th career goal tipping in a shot from the point by Marek Zidlicky, and then was able to tied the game at 4 with just over two minutes to play in regulation on a great effort by Koivu to get the puck to the net. The Wild were able to generate pressure in the offensive zone and scoring opportunities in overtime, but with Miettinen making a bad pass and Christian Ehrhoff getting to the puck before Zidlicky, Ehrhoff was able to put the puck up high into the net to score the gamewinner. A deflating loss for the Wild after the effort that was put forth to try and get the two points.

And with the overtime loss, the Wild leave the X with a point and move into 9th place, 1 point out of a playoff spot. Is it sad that I was kind of satisfied with 1 point...I really hope the players weren't...

Notes:

• Brent Burns out with concussion-like symptoms.
• Something that hasn't been said much this season, but Backstrom was not good in this game, allowing a couple of soft goals.
  
• With Nolan scoring his 20th goal of the season, and 401st goal of his career, the New York Islanders are now the only team remaining without a 20-goal scorer on their roster.
• The Wild had THREE shots in the first period...three freaking shots, and two came in the last two minutes...ughhhh!
  
• I'm on twitter now.
  

UP NEXT: Thursday @ Colorado Avalanche, 8:00pm CT