"For two days, the Wild had preached to themselves the importance of forgetting what had happened in the final 10 minutes of their loss to Nashville, when four pucks found the net from increasingly bizarre spots and turned a certain victory into a loss that threatened to wipe out the momentum they had been building.

It was a bold message - and really, what else could the Wild do but talk themselves into it? They didn't know until Thursday night, though, whether they could carry it out. Their confidence had been rattled through a six-week stretch in which they won just twice, and the loss Tuesday threatened to wipe out the good feelings they'd built before the all-star break.

After a 1-0 win over the Avalanche on Thursday night, those good feelings are back. And so is a small cushion in the Western Conference standings.

For the second time in nine days, the Wild came to the Pepsi Center and snatched a one-goal victory from the team breathing down their necks for the final playoff spot. By beating the Avalanche, they pushed their lead over Colorado to three points.

More important, they did it with headlining performances from many of the same players who factored prominently in Tuesday's 5-4 loss.

"The thing is, I felt very confident coming into this game - number one, because of the way we'd played in the three previous games," coach Mike Yeo said. "And number two, knowing this group, how they'd be ready to respond. Coming into this game, I had a

great feeling, and guys didn't let me down."

The Wild blocked 26 shots. Nate Prosser had five of those, including one in the first period in which he took a bullet to the chest that saved a goal with Niklas Backstrom down behind him. The Wild scored their only goal on their next shift. "