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Wild continue road trip against struggling Coyotes

Nov 14, 2006 - 2:36 PM Minnesota (11-5-0) at Phoenix (4-12-0) 9:00 pm EST

GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) - After falling short against one of the best teams in the NHL, the Minnesota Wild will try to bounce back against one of the worst.

The Wild play the fourth game of their five-game road trip Tuesday when they take on the struggling Phoenix Coyotes.

Minnesota lost for the third time in four games Sunday, dropping a 3-2 decision against the Western Conference-leading Anaheim Ducks. The Wild allowed the first two goals of the game and were unable to complete their comeback despite a pair of tallies from Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Rookie Niklas Backstrom made 28 saves in his first career start for Minnesota, which will try to rebound against a Phoenix team that has scored a total of one goal in losing its last two games.

The Coyotes, tied with a league-worst eight points, absorbed a 2-1 setback against San Jose on Saturday. Yanic Perreault gave Phoenix a 1-0 lead in the first period before Curtis Joseph allowed a pair of goals in the middle session.

Joseph finished with just 16 saves to drop to 2-8-0 with an ugly 3.86 goals-against average this season.