GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Six straight losses sent the Minnesota Wild into a downward spiral, the weight of the previous game carrying over into the next. Once the Wild learned how to put games behind them, good or bad, the wins started piling up. Justin Fontaine scored three goals, Niklas Backstrom stopped 39 shots and the Wild won their fourth straight game by beating the Phoenix Coyotes 4-1 on Thursday night. "When we were losing games, we were carrying that baggage into the next game with us," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "Success can do some damage to you, too, like winning can. Weve been able to put that behind us and go on to the next one and recognize what we have to do." The Wild had been in a rut, plagued by shaky goaltending, injuries to key players and a big hit to their confidence. Once one of the top teams in the Western Conference, Minnesota plummeted down the standings with four straight road losses that led to two more at home to close out 2013. Once the calendar flipped, the Wild found their way again, starting with a 4-1 win over Buffalo. Minnesota followed a home win over Washington with a shootout road victory over the Kings and backed that up with another superb game against the Coyotes. Fontaine scored late in the first period, gave the Wild a two-goal lead on a power play after a strange bounce in the third and closed out his first career hat trick with an empty-net goal. Kyle Brodziak had a goal and an assist, Matt Cook had two assists and Backstrom was superb, winning his third straight start after allowing 17 goals the previous four. The win moved the Wild ahead of the Coyotes for the eighth spot in the Western Conference with 53 points. "We have a lot of young guys following the leadership and were playing the kind of game we need to play," Fontaine said. The Coyotes had their chances. They doubled Minnesotas shot total in the first period and had numerous good scoring chances, including one shot by Lauri Korpikoski that hit the crossbar. Mikkel Boedker was the only Phoenix player to score, doing it on a power play early in the second period, leaving the Coyotes a bit disheartened after their third loss in four games. "We had opportunities to score and didnt score," Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. "Give them credit that they found ways to score when they got theirs and we didnt. In a game like that, you have to put as much onus on the guys trying to score as the guys who are trying to stop them." Phoenix came out firing, outshooting Minnesota 15-7 in the first period. The Wild scored first, though, thanks to a turnover by Phoenix defenceman Keith Yandle. Trying to clear the puck under pressure in front of the crease, Yandle sent it right to the slot, where Fontaine gathered it and beat Mike Smith to the glove side late in the first period. The Coyotes kept up the pressure early in the second period and tied it on a power play when Boedker spun around and slipped a backhander under Backstrom just before he fell to the ice. Phoenix continued to generate nearly twice as many shots, but Minnesota scored the next goal early in the third period. This one came on a defensive miscue as well: Yandle was caught pinching in Minnesotas zone, Brodziak ended up with a partial breakaway and sent a wrister that went off Smith into the goal. Fontaine put Minnesota up 3-1 a few minutes later when he fought off Antoine Vermette and flicked in a one-handed shot as he was going down. Smith had circled behind the goal to play Jason Pominvilles dump-in and had no chance of getting back when the puck caromed off the boards to the front of the goal. Phoenix tried to pick up the pressure, but couldnt get anything past Backstrom and Fontaine closed it out with his empty-netter. "We had a couple little spurts here and there, but to score youve got to go hard to the net, especially when theyre playing real tight," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Their goaltender gives them a (good) game, they play tight and we couldnt do enough to get inside to get opportunities and score on our opportunities." Notes: Phoenix D Oliver Ekman-Larsson returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. ... Wild LW Zach Parise missed his eighth straight game with a lower-body injury and Mikko Koivu missed his second straight with a broken ankle. They have a combined 23 goals and 39 assists. ... Thursday was the 10-year anniversary of Coyotes G Brian Boucher setting the modern-day NHL record with his fifth consecutive shutout -- against Minnesota. Jake Bailey Jersey . The striker headed Spurs into a 35th-minute lead and tapped in their third in the 71st after Chico Flores own goal. Wilfried Bony hit the bar and had a good penalty appeal for a push by Tottenham captain Michael Dawson turned down in the first half, before getting Swanseas consolation late on. Jonathan Jones Jersey . Osasunas Alvaro Cejudo drove the ball onto the crossbar in the fifth minute and his team squandered several long-range strikes before he was denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Jaime Jimenez in the 50th. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/1881p...y-patriots.html. FIFA said in a statement Friday that "several racist and discriminatory incidents were apparently perpetrated by local supporters during the match, in particular by displaying neo-Nazi banners and by making monkey noises and gestures as well as Nazi salutes. Irving Fryar Jersey . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans. Joe Cardona Jersey . -- Joe Thornton scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:39 left in regulation to help the San Jose Sharks overcome a two-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Thursday night.PRETORIA, South Africa -- Oscar Pistorius defence team called an anesthetist to testify at the double-amputee runners murder trial Thursday in an attempt to counter prosecution claims that Pistorius is lying about the timeline of events on the night he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Prof. Aina Christina Lundgren was being questioned on her expertise regarding how long it takes a person to digest food after eating. The testimony relates to an autopsy report on Steenkamps body that said she still had food in her stomach after she was killed by Pistorius, leading prosecutors to challenge his story that the couple last ate around eight hours before he shot her through a toilet door. An expert testifying for the prosecution said a persons stomach is normally empty of food six hours after eating and Steenkamp ate much later on the night of the killing and not in line with Pistorius story. Prosecutors say thats because the couple were up arguing late into the night before Pistorius shot Steenkamp multiple times in the midst of a heated fight through a toilet stall door in his bathroom. Pistorius says he mistook her for an intruder hiding behind the closed toilet stall door. He testified the couple had dinner at around 7 p.m. on the night she was killed, and they were in bed around 10 p.m. Pistorius shot Steenkamp after 3 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2013. Lundgren, who described herself as a specialist anesthetist, testified that there are a number of factors that could have delayed the digestion process in Steenkamp to explain the food found in her stomach, including that she was a pre-menopausal woman and had been sleeping. Lundgren was presented by the defence to try and undermine the testimony of pathologgist Prof.dddddddddddd Gert Saayman, who said it was his opinion that Steenkamp ate much later than Pistorius says, possibly even at around 1 a.m. when the runner claims they were in bed. Lundgren said it was difficult to be exact about the rate of digestion and it was "speculative to attempt to estimate when she had last eaten." Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel cross-examined Lundgren and pointed to Saaymans findings that he could even identify vegetable and cheese matter in Steenkamps stomach. "Would you not have expected the digestive process to have caused the contents to be unrecognizable after eight hours?" Nel asked Lundgren. "I cant comment," she replied. "But he can, and he did," Nel said of Saaymans report. The state pathologist was present in the courtroom and Nel asserted that his evidence was "more probable." Replying to Nels questions, Lundgren said she was a clinician and unwilling to criticize Saayman, a pathologist. However, later on re-examination by chief defence lawyer Barry Roux, she said she did not agree with Saaymans assertion that Steenkamp ate at 1 a.m. or after. Pistorius lawyers also said in a statement Thursday that an offer to buy the villa where the Olympian killed Steenkamp had been accepted and the sale of the house was being processed. Pistorius is selling his home in the gated community in the South African capital Pretoria to help with his legal bills. His trial is now into its seventh week of testimony. Lawyer Brian Webber said they would not identify who was buying the house or the amount it was being sold for until the sale was finalized. Pistorius last year valued the house at about $450,000. ' ' '