Coming to you live inside the Scottrade Center, where the Wild will take on the St. Louis Blues in a huge showdown between the 10th- and 12th-place teams in the West. It just doesn’t get any bigger folks.

Wild’s on fire, having gotten points in six of its past 10. Of course, it’s also lost eight of its past 10, but in the NHL, you can lose eight of 10 as long as it’s 2-4-4 and still be in the thick of it. Gotta love the NHL, where parity is partly a facade.

I nearly sprained Niklas Backstrom’s knee as I walked into the arena. He was turning a corner doing his turtle walk. I was turning a corner Blackberrying. And, luckily I looked up in time and missed tonight’s starting goaltender.

Yes, the Wild’s coming back with Backstrom. Not sure yet the rest of the lineup, but I’ll let you know during warmups. I hear defenseman Marek Zidlicky isn’t feeling well, so we’ll see if that means Kurtis Foster will play or Zidlicky will gut it out.

That’s it for now.

4 p.m. update: Foster and Craig Weller aren’t playing. They just pulled up in the two seats next to me in the press box.

First, this was an outstanding hockey game tonight. The desperation from both sides was evident as everybody skated hard, fast and with physicality. Nearly 80 registered hits in the game.

The Wild battled back from a 2-0 deficit to get a point, but it gave out a costly two to Dallas, the team that was directly ahead in the standings. So it entered one back, now it’s two (74-72). And right now, Nashville, which entered the night with 71 points, is up 1-0 on Phoenix at the end of two periods and Edmonton, which is tied in points with Minnesota right this moment, is tied 1-1 with Colorado at the end of two.

So this could very well still become a really bad night for the Wild. Remember, I wrote about a month ago that down the stretch, there are more and more three-point games and they’re the things that kill teams this time of year if you’re on the outside looking in.

However, the Wild has had a chance to get that extra point, but has played to three straight one-point games and five in the past 13. Over that span, the Wild’s only won four games. Well, the way this thing is going, wins could very well be a much-needed tiebreaker at the end. And the Wild, which had the edge in wins for much of the year, still only has 32 — which right now is one fewer than Nashville and one fewer than Dallas.

Got all that? I’ve got a headache from tabulating all that. Basically, what I’m saying, is none of what I just mentioned is good.

Back to the game, the Wild gave up three goals tonight on little mistakes in its own zone. On one goal, Nick Schultz and Mikku Koivu got caught in between and not taking the body. On another, Koivu left the front of the net, where Kim Johnsson wasn’t. But it all came after a Johnsson turnover. And on the OT winner by noted scorer Nick Grossman, Johnsson skated himself into a screen. But other than that, the Wild did play a very strong game. It controlled play for much of the game and was even playing well when it was down 2-0, finally fighting back to a tie. And you can’t even blame this on sitting back and playing conservatively in the third.

The Wild outshot Dallas 8-6, and could have won it on Peter Olvecky’s hit post.

You might not have seen this on TV, but there were some frantic moments on the Wild bench in the second while the team was killing Stephane Veilleux’s double minor. Koivu, who has been slipping all over the ice lately (fell five times in the first period in Denver), broke his skate blade, and he sat on the bench without a skate during the entire kill.

But Koivu, new skate and all, returned to start the rally. Big game by Andrew Brunette, who scored a goal and an assist, on one knee. Cal Clutterbuck was terrific (two drawn penalties, seven hits). P-M Bouchard, very good. James Sheppard was solid — although when he’s ahead of the play six feet from Marty Turco, don’t pass backward. That’s why he has only four goals.

That’s it. I’ve got a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call staring at me as I head to St. Louis by way of Memphis. It’ll be interesting to see the Wild’s legs Sunday in St. Louis. Not an easy back to back, having to fly in and playing less than 24 hours after tonmight’s start time. Plus, half the team was getting treatment after this one. I never saw Koivu, Brunette, Fritsche, Schultz and a host of others.

By the way, Olli Jokinen has eight goals in six games for Calgary. Just thought I’d mention.

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If you actually endured tonight’s Wild slopfest on your television set, just be aware of this — 150 Wild jersey-wearing fans, who passionately jammed one end zone here at the Pepsi Center, who screamed “Let’s Play Hockey,” before the opening puck drop, who chanted “Let’s Go Wild,” paid their hard-earned money to actually fly out here and witness one of the Wild’s most incompetent performances of the season.

Feel for them. 

The Wild was brutal tonight, generating zero offensive attack after failing to generate a single offensive attack on six straight heinous power-play minutes in the second period that fittingly ended with a too-many-men penalty of their own.

Asked how it’s humanly possible that a team as allegedly desperate as the Wild, a team who’s fighting for their playoff lives, can come out with this type of game against the worst team in the Western Conference, coach Jacques Lemaire said simply, “Maybe this is the team we have.”

To steal another Lemaire line for myself, “No doubt.”

Sorry, this isn’t a mirage. The Wild has played 67 games. Without Marian Gaborik, it’s an average, average hockey team that many nights have overexpended or undertalented or way-too-young players just not getting it done.

Speaking of Gaborik, I talked to GM Doug Risebrough today about the question that’s on many of your minds: Are the Wild interested in keeping Gaborik on a short-term deal. The answer is yes. Whether Gaborik would be interested is the bigger question. Here’s the story.

Personally, I still think the bridge is burned. Gaborik’s shown no sign he wants to stay, and if Gaborik can only get a short-term deal this summer anyway, why not wait and see which teams offer it to him?

By the way, Gaborik had an MRI real late today, so no results on how his hip looked. I did just see him getting back to the hotel minutes ago.

Back to the game, the Wild worked tonight, only all the energy was spent working hard trying desperately to chip the puck out of its zone. By the time the players finally got out, it was time for a line change.

Niklas Backstrom stole this point. Stole it. Forty saves. Peter Budaj only had to make 16.

Sorry, but it’s inexcusable that you can come out with this type of game. Good teams don’t play like this against dragging opponents when you’re the only one who needs points. The Wild could have popped into seventh with a win. Instead, it stayed in ninth, still only a point back from eighth.

But the Wild again offered little reason for hope. They could use every excuse in the book — they’re tired from all the travel, they played basketball yesterday afternoon rather than practicing because somehow a single ice sheet wasn’t available in the entire Denver area, the altitude was high.

But the reality is, this team comes out like this too often for it to be a fluke.

The Wild was outshot 41-17. It had 15 shots through regulation. An Andrew Brunette wraparound was the Wild’s first shot of the third — 15 minutes, 37 seconds in.

Same old, same old. Onward to Dallas, where the Wild, incidentally, hasn’t won a single time since I’ve been the beat writer post-lockout.

Talk to you after Friday’s practice.

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As somebody I know told me last week, “2-4 would be a great road trip.” I replied, “Are you kidding me???????? They go 2-4, and season ovah.”

Wrong as usual, but hey, none of the Wild players who left this rink with their head up tonight was satisfied with the trip. But as Antti Miettinen said, they certainly feel better about themselves being a point back from the eighth and final playoff spot heading home for a brief one-gamer against San Jose.

Huge victory against the team formally known as the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks, who sold off UFA’s Sami Pahlsson, Kent Huskins and Travis Moen at the deadline, and dealt Chris Kunitz as well, are a shadow of what they once were.

Still, Niklas Backstrom had to be great tonight and he rebounded from his poor performance in L.A. yesterday with a 36-save effort. At one point, the Ducks outshot the Wild 20-5.

Stephane Veilleux, doing his best Brian Rolston impression, was the offensive hero tonight with his second career two-goal game, including a Brian Rolston-like slapper on a breakaway. I see Veilleux do this all the time in practice, but who’d ever think he’d get an opportunity to pull it out in the course of a game?

But with the game tied at 1 in the second, Kim Johnsson (a plus-3) forced a turnover and Owen Nolan hit Veilleux for a breakaway howitzer and 2-1 Wild lead. This came after Nick Schultz (plus-3) set up Veilleux’s first goal 68 ticks in, and before Andrew Brunette scored his 15th midway through the third after a great pass by James Sheppard (plus-3).

That goal proved huge when Scott Niedermayer scored with 21.6 seconds left on a ridiculous goal. I was wrong. I thought it was Steve Kozari, the same ref who stood in the middle of the crease looking for a puck under Niklas Backstrom in Minnesota several weeks ago, who took a Sunday stroll to the other side of the net to see if Backstrom had a puck covered, which he did. It was actually partner Denis LaRue. But there’s really only so many hours you can freeze a puck, and it, uh, thawed. 

OK, I am donzo. Finally, it’s over. I get to go back to Minnesota for a few hours before doing this all over again starting Wednesday in Denver.

I’m on a red-eye outta here tonight. The Wild’s plane is currently delayed as the team’s just sitting at John Wayne Airport.

Only nine players are skating Monday, so who knows what you’ll find on the blog tomorrow if anything because I’ve got a number of things I have to deal with when I get back to Minny.

Guess what? I’ve got Tuesday’s game against San Jose off, and making his triumphant albeit temporary return will be No. 2, Kent Youngblood.

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The Wild continues to be completely incapable of stringing wins together, which is why this team’s got a mountain to climb in order to make the playoffs.

The Wild hasn’t won three regulation games in a row since the first three games of the season. If the Wild doesn’t solve this problem immediately, the season is over folks. The Wild has 18 games left, and these days, winning two in a row is a chore.

Quite frankly, a team that goes an entire season without being able to group together a string of victories doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs.

It’s always something with the Wild after a big win, and tonight for the first time, the Wild may have lost solely because of its goalie Niklas Backstrom, who was shakier than a 6.0 earthquake. Two softies surrendered in the first period, and Backstrom was finally chased 8:45 into the second period after Anze Kopitar gave the Kings a 3-2 lead.

As you can read in the gamer, Backstrom took a swan dive on the knife, which is commendable, but it doesn’t help in the standings. Who knows where the Wild will be when all the late games are done tonight, but it was three points back of a playoff spot entering the game.

Showing he’s got the worst luck, Josh Harding gave up a goal — the winner — on the first shot he saw and suffered the loss. I’ve got to count up how many losses Harding has in his career in games Backstrom was chased, but it’s at least three or four.

The Wild rallied twice from one-goal deficits, but it never could bounce back after Anze Kopitar’s third goal. Teddy Purcell made it 4-2 on a power play, and even though Eric Belanger made it 4-3, Jonathan Quick never gave up another.

There’s just a major character flaw on this team. Just a lack of concentration. Just check out the replay of the Kings’ power play after Dan Fritsche took a boarding minor with less than four minutes left. For 10 seconds, the Wild was playing with three skaters until Martin Skoula finally jumped over the boards when somebody realized they were more shorthanded than they needed to be.

That’s just unacceptable in a game like this, and the same thing happened early last month at home.

That makes for yet another must-win tomorrow against Anaheim.

Lastly, after not playing in 11 months, Kurtis Foster made his unexpected season debut without the benefit of a morning skate or warmup. Foster had just got done with a 35-minute bike ride, squats and sprints when 13 minutes before the game, he was called into action because Brent Burns got sick in warmups.

Foster was scored on during his first shift, but two shifts later, he was back to even because he was on for Owen Nolan’s goal. He played 9 1/2 minutes. We’ll see if he’ll play against the Ducks; Lemaire said he thought Burns would be recovered by then.

OK, I’m outta here.

Be honest: Who turned off the TV when it was 3-0 San Jose? If you did, find a DVD because this one will go down as a Wild classic.

I for one never, ever, doubted them. I kept watching, all you bandwagon jumpers!

Down  3-zip in the second period, the Wild executed a pretty incredible comeback against arguably the best team in the West. Sure, the Wild got bounces, like a 98-foot bouncing goal from the other side of the red line from Marek Zidlicky, but hey, as Mikko Koivu said, the Wild has suffered its fair share of bad bounces.

Funny quotes in the gamer on the center-ice goal that Zidlicky never saw go in because he flipped it into the Sharks’ end and went for a change.

Just 1:28 apart late in the second, Marc-Andre Bergeron (rumor has it that the goal will be changed back to Bergeron from Koivu on Friday) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard turned a 3-0 deficit to 3-2. Then Zidlicky scored from about center-ice with 7:37 left. The Wild, which didn’t have a power play in the entire game for the fourth time in team history, had to kill of a Cal Clutterbuck minor with 2:56 left in regulation.

Niklas Backstrom made two great saves in overtime (32 for the game) and finally, Koivu took Brent Burns’ rebound and scored with 13.3 seconds left in OT. It was Koivu’s first career OT winner, and he jumped up and down about four times after.

“We allowed them to gain confidence and some momentum and their gain was our loss,” said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. “From there, it was anyone’s game.”

But the Wild strangled this one away for a huge win. A loss would have been demoralizing as the postseason was beginning to look like a pipedream. But now, the Wild, which is still in a logjam, is a point from a playoff spot and heading to SoCal on a high for back-to-back games against Los Angeles and Anaheim.

I’ll be honest, I was going to do a huge Mikko Koivu’s got to step up story for Saturday, but the captain beat me to the punch. He had a great game, scoring the big winner on his fifth shot. He also had five other shots blocked.

The Wild’s defensemen were pretty solid in the final two periods, a far cry from the first period when the Sharks skated all over the Wild. Brent Burns and Kim Johnsson had two helpers apiece

The Wild took 36 shots against the team that surrenders the fewest in the NHL.

Bouchard, besides scoring a huge goal with 41.6 seconds left in the second, was plus-3. Dan Fritsche absolutely worked his you-know-what off from the first shift.

Most impressive about this one? The Wild was all over San Jose at the start of the second. But Boucher made save after save, several incredible ones. Then San Jose got a lucky bounce when a Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot deflected off Andrew Brunette’s skate and right to Joe Pavelski for his second goal.

The Sharks made it 3-0, yet the Wild didn’t get deflated. Instead of mailing it in, the team kept going at the Sharks and finally got a few breaks. Big, big win on a night where if it lost, you could pretty much begin the writing them off stage.

Apparently, by the way, Owen Nolan was very sick tonight. He played through it, but he got sick — so to speak — throughout the game on the bench. He only played nine minutes.

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