Red Wings, battling for playoff spot, fall to Wild

St. Paul, Minn. —  Antti Miettinen got Minnesota going with a pair of first-period goals, and Detroit’s defense fell apart down the stretch in the Wild’s 5-2 victory over the Red Wings on Wednesday night.

Josh Harding made the early scores hold up with 26 saves for Minnesota, 6-0-1 in its last seven home games.

Miettinen, who has 15 goals this season, had his third two-goal game in his last seven games.

Pavel Datsyuk had two goals in the first period for the Red Wings, who have found themselves in a real fight for a playoff spot for the first time in years. They began the day in eighth place in the Western Conference, with the Wild now three points behind them.

The Wild led, 3-2, early in the third period when the Red Wings started a power play. Dan Cleary’s high-stick penalty ended the advantage after 44 seconds, and Eric Belanger deked Todd Bertuzzi on his way to feed Guillaume Latendresse for the four-on-four goal.

Then, with 13 seconds remaining on the Wild power play, Martin Havlat sneaked a bad-angle shot past goalie Chris Osgood.

-- associated press