Postgame (with video): 'Half an inch' dooms the Wild

The Wild's in it tough now.

No Zach Parise, no Jason Zucker and defeated in two consecutive games heading into Friday's showdown in D.C., where the Capitals boast the league's best record and have to be stinging after a rare home loss to lowly Montreal.

Thursday night in Philly, the Wild battled back from a pair of one-goal deficits on goals by Thomas Vanek and Mikael Granlund but saw fourth-liner Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the eventual winning goal 3:21 into the third after a breakdown behind the net.

Then, with 2.6 seconds left, Michal Neuvirth made "one of the best saves I've ever made" to rob Charlie Coyle of an open-net tying goal that would have gotten the Wild at least one point in the standings.

Instead, Coyle's shot from 22 feet away was shoveled in by Neuvirth's paddle right at or maybe a little over the goal line. The puck rolled back through his blocker and into the crease. They reviewed, but the league said video confirmed no goal even though CSI technicians on Twitter put together still frames that appear to show a little black dot (allegedly the puck) over the goal line.

Regardless, ridiculous save – or as Sam Gagner called it, "disgusting save," and now the Wild's in a whole world of hurt.

Minnesota's four points back of Colorado with two games in hand and is starting to lose sight of Nashville over the horizon for that top wildcard spot. The Preds, who keep getting points on the road, extended their point streak tonight to eight with a gigantic win in Chicago.

"You've got to try to battle for point," Jarret Stoll said. "At this time of the year, there's a ton of three-point games. Teams are getting points. They're finding a way to get one point or maybe pulling out two points here or there. We're not finding a way to do that right now. We've got to find a way pretty quick here to start getting some points."

I don't have the stamina to figure it out now, but in January, the Wild lost a number of games that were tied in the third period. The fourth line of the Flyers got the winner 3:21 into the third against the fourth line of the Wild and defensemen Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon, who were on for all three goals against.

Stoll took responsibility for the game-losing goal and said, "If we want to be a playoff team, we've got to get over that hump and win the game in the third. You have to do that. Games are going to be tied, 1-1, 2-2 in the third. It's battling. It's not going to be pretty. It's going to be ugly, it's going to be hard, but that's the kind of hockey we need to play."

The Wild also needed a better game from Devan Dubnyk and a penalty kill that got beat on the second goal.

"Right now, our penalty kill has to be a difference in a game for us," John Torchetti said.

Vanek said, "Close is not good enough for us right now. It's tough one, but we've got to get over it quick because [Friday] we have the best team in the league and we need points."

Quick blog, I know. But I have an early train to Washington and a ton of work to do Friday, so I need some sleep. Bad loss. Onward. Doubtful the Wild skates in the morning, so lineup changes (not many that can happen with Parise, Zucker and Jonas Brodin out) wouldn't be known until we get Torchetti around 5 p.m.