The Minnesota Wild had never lost to the Atlanta Thrashers heading into Friday night's contest. But even though the Wild dominated Atlanta for almost 55 minutes, it was Ilya Kovalchuk and the Thrashers who emerged victorious in a shootout.

It looked like the Wild might hold on for a win, but in the last minute of the game, with a man advantage because of a pulled goalie. The Thrashers all- star Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 44th goal of the year with just :45 left in regulation to force overtime.

The Wild have lost the last seven of ten games and coach Lemaire thinks the team should play harder. "It doesn't matter how much talent you have, you've got to work to make you a better player," he said. "You can't cheat because you don't cheat anybody but yourself and the team. If you're not playing as good as you can play, if you accept that, you're cheating yourself and the team."

Atlanta was physical by refusing to give up in the third period and gave the Wild lots of tough hits during the entire contest. Center Eric Belanger is day-to-day with a leg injury after he blocked a Ilya Kovalchuk slapshot, he was gone for half of the game and Brian Rolston was put at center. He likes playing center as much as Pavol Demitra does. I hate beating a dead horse, but this was an issue that should have been addressed before the trade deadline. The Wild are lacking depth at the center position.

The Wild decided to bring up center Steve Kelly from the Houston Aeros of the AHL. He is 6-2 and has 10 goals and 28 points in 47 games with the Aeros, in 147 NHL games he only has 10 goals and 28 points. Steve has played for Edmonton, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles and was a member of the 1999-2000 Stanley Cup Champions New Jersey Devils.

Even though the Minnesota Wild have been in some sort of slump lately they are still in the playoff picture. They have a tough schedule ahead of them but they are playing some of the top teams in the western conference and that should make a difference in this race. They only have 13 games left and they play San Jose twice, Vancouver twice, Calgary twice, Edmonton twice and Colorado twice with the last game of the regular season at Denver. We probably will not know who will be in the playoffs until then and it might be by only one point. This is going to be some good hockey to watch, I hope you have NHL’s Center Ice to take in all the games.

Wild Notes

Brent Burns became the Wild’s new single-season defenseman record-holder for goals (he has 12 on the year) and points (36)... After Coach Lemaire accused Mark Parrish of not working hard enough on Wednesday, he was a healthy scratch. This was the first time since his rookie season with Florida in the 1998-1999 season. Parrish, who met with Lemaire on Friday morning, declined to comment.

Chris Simon who had the flu was also a healthy scratch and has missed his third game in a row... Steve Kelly will wear sweater # 16 for his debut with the Wild.