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COLUMBUS Patrice Bergeron Jersey , Ohio — Two teams with identical records get together at Nationwide Arena on Thursday night when the Columbus Blue Jackets play host to the Minnesota Wild.The Blue Jackets (14-8-2, 30 points) are trending upward. They’ve gone 7-2-1 in their last two games and return home after a wild 7-5 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.More Wild coveragePhotos of the Week: 12/30/18 – 1/5/19Wild Breakaway: Wild start slow, finish fast in beating OttawaSpurgeon scores twice, Wild beat Senators 4-3WATCH: Wild’s Spurgeon scores pair of goals vs. OttawaSt. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling shines at World Junior ChampionshipThe Wild (14-8-2, 30 points) have won six of the past 10 games. But in Minnesota’s most recent outing, it blew a 3-1 lead and lost 4-3 at home to the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.The Wild players were clearly frustrated with their effort after giving up three consecutive goals when they appeared to be in good position to win.“We keep playing down to the level of competition that comes into this building,” Wild winger Marcus Foligno told reporters. “It’s getting to be embarrassing to set yourself up really good for the third. (The opponents) have no momentum, and yet we just seem like it’s a job and let teams come back in. That’s on us.“That’s a mental thing here. It’s not that we’re a bad hockey team. We’re a good hockey team. We’ve got to play great, though.”The Wild were 6-1-1 when leading after two periods before the collapse. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk couldn’t explain what happened.“I don’t know,” he repeated several times.Losing leads has become a trend. The same thing happened six days earlier when the Wild gave up a three-goal lead in a 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators at home.“We’ll have to get back to practice and try to figure out a way to be better in the third periods. Hopefully, we can bring it next game,” Wild forward Eric Fehr said after the latest loss. “We’ll have to look at the tape a little bit and see what we did and what they did to get their scoring chances. That’s a game we have to have at home, no doubt.”That loss left the Wild in third place in the Central Division. Colorado has surged past Minnesota into second place behind Nashville in the division with five straight victories.The Blue Jackets also let a lead slip away their last time out, but they were able to hold off the Red Wings and bounce back from a road loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins two nights earlier.Columbus led Detroit 3-0 after one period and 5-1 in the second period before almost frittering away what could have been a relatively stress-free win on the road.“We got up 5-1 and we think it’s point night now,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “It’s funny what happens. They forgot how to check Matt Read Jersey Womens , not forgot how to check, they thought it was going to be an easy night and there’s no easy nights.”Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois scored early in the third period after the Red Wings had closed within one goal to make it 6-4 and defenseman Seth Jones added an empty-netter to seal the win.Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin ended a 12-game streak without a goal, but linemate Cam Atkinson’s franchise record-tying run of seven games with a goal ended.Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who is 7-3-0 in his last 10 games after getting off to a slow start this season, managed to pick up the victory in Detroit with 27 saves despite giving up five goals. He stopped all nine Detroit shots in the opening period.“This is a league that, if your goaltender is really good, you have a really good team and they play with confidence,” Tortorella said, according to The Columbus Dispatch. “The coach is dynamite, when the goalie’s on. If the goalie’s struggling, the team is two inches tall and the coach (stinks). That’s just the way this business is.”Tortorella will coach his 1,200th NHL game on Thursday, becoming the 18th coach in league history and the fifth active coach to reach that milestone. GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Coyotes aren’t helping themselves much these days, especially in the offensive end. Maybe the Colorado Avalanche can provide their struggling Western Conference rival with some assistance.“I don’t see much drive from some guys going to the net Matt Hendricks Jersey Womens ,” coach Rick Tocchet said after the Coyotes were held to 23 shots during a 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.The Coyotes will be coming off a 1-3 road trip and five losses in their past six games when they open a three-game homestand by playing the New York Islanders at Gila River Arena on Tuesday night. Article continues below ...The Islanders will be playing the second half of a back-to-back after defeating the Avalanche 4-1 in Denver on Tuesday night – only the fourth time this season Colorado has been held to one goal or fewer.On Thursday, the Coyotes will be at home against the Montreal Canadiens – who, yes indeed, will be coming off a game against the Avalanche on Wednesday.In each game, the Coyotes will meet what is likely to be a tired opponent playing the second end of a back-to-back against what Islanders coach Barry Trotz calls a “high-end talent” team in the Avalanche. Arizona will have a day off between games.Then, on Saturday, the Avalanche themselves will be the opponent for the final game of the Coyotes’ homestand. So if the Coyotes (14-16-2) are to make a move in the Pacific Division standings this week -they’re currently 11 points out of third place and a playoff spot – it might take a bit of assistance from the Avalanche. The Coyotes finish out the week by playing at the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.“We’ve got to focus on the next two points,” center Derek Stepan told the Arizona Republic. “And once we take care of business there, we can focus on Thursday’s two points and then Saturday’s two points and so on. They’re a crucial eight points and we’ve talked about getting as many as we can before (the Christmas break). You never know; you can crawl back into this thing if you get six out of eight (points) or seven out of eight.”The Islanders (16-12-4) were floundering a bit, too, losing four of six before Thomas Greiss made 30 saves against Colorado and Johnny Boychuk scored his first goal of the season. The Islanders, beginning a four-game road trip, scored twice on the power play and also killed off a four-minute Colorado power play.“We knew we were playing a talented team and we had to play a certain way – and we did,” Trotz said. “Special teams were good … and we got a save when we needed it. And with seconds to go, we’re still trying to block shots. … Guys are buying in.”Tocchet Womens Torey Krug Jersey , however, was unhappy with his team’s offensive execution – or lack thereof – at Carolina, so he moved rookie forward Conor Garland up to the No. 1 line with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz in practice Monday. Tocchet has tried multiple players on that line since moving Alex Galchenyuk to the second line, including Nick Cousins. Garland has played in only five NHL games, and doesn’t yet have a point after having eight goals and 19 points and being a plus-11 in 18 games at Tucson (AHL).“One thing I like about him is he’s a really good second man on the puck,” Tocchet told the team’s website. “He’s really done a nice job of getting in some battles and winning some battles and generating (chances). Those are the things that he has to continue to do. I’ve been really happy with him. He’s starting to get some comfortability in his game.”Cousins, coincidentally, has four goals and eight points in eight games against the Islanders, and Galchenyuk has six goals and 16 points in 16 games against them.The Islanders are expected to start Robin Lehner (4-6-3, 2.66 goals-against average) in goal against Coyotes rookie Adin Hill (5-3, 1.97 goals-against average). Lehner has lost his last four decisions.The Coyotes have won their last three at home against the Islanders.