Minnesota (25-21-8) continues to struggle as of late, despite being one the best teams in the NHL earlier this season. The Wild have lost their last three games, including a loss on the road in Columbus Tuesday. Minnesota will again face the Blue Jackets (15-33-6) on home ice Saturday night.

Minnesota (25-22-8) dropped its fourth straight game Saturday night, losing to the NHL-worst Blue Jackets for the second time in the past five days. Columbus (16-33-6) claimed the 3-1 victory over the Wild in St. Paul. Minnesota will continue their four-game home-stand against the Ducks on Tuesday.

The Blue Jackets beat the Wild 3-1 Tuesday night in Columbus. Nate Prosser, who just signed a contract extension, scored the lone Wild goal, tying the game 1-1 in the first period. Niklas Backstrom took the loss allowing three goals on 37 shots.

The Minnesota Wild open the 2011-12 season Saturday night at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Analysts throughout the NHL believe the Wild will be a fringe playoff team. Locally, the fans are hoping a new and improved offense will lead the team back to the postseason.

Wild coach Mike Yeo tells the Star Tribune he’ll keep Mikko Koivu out of the lineup tonight in Columbus. Koivu is recovering from a shoulder injury. Yeo says Koivu is “very close” to returning, but no quite yet. His return might come as early as Thursday’s game against Vancouver.

The Wild (22-16-6) will meetup with the Blues (25-12-6) on the road Saturday night. Minnesota continued to struggle Thursday losing 5-2 to the Blackhawks. The Wild are now 2-9-3 in their last 14 games. St. Louis also lost on home ice Thursday to Vancouver in overtime. However, that was just the second loss for the Blues in 11 homes games. Minnesota beat St. Louis twice at the Xcel in November.