ST. PAUL, Minn. — Edmonton's high-flying offense was grounded at the worst possible time for the on-the-bubble Oilers.

The Minnesota Wild put the clamps on the hard-charging Oilers, avenging an embarrassing loss two nights earlier with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night to put Edmonton's playoff hopes in serious trouble.

After being pulled from the game in the first period of a 5-3 loss to the Oilers two nights earlier, Niklas Backstrom made 32 saves and Mikko Koivu had three assists to help the Wild leapfrog Calgary into first place in the Northwest Division.

The Oilers came into Xcel Energy Center having won 12 of their last 15 games to vault back into the playoff race. They had 21 goals in their last four games, but went 0-for-6 on the power play and hit the post five times in the final two periods in a game they had to have.

The Oilers trail Vancouver by three points for the final spot in the West and rolled into St. Paul with plenty of confidence after scoring three goals on their first four shots against Backstrom on Monday night.

But the Wild bounced back from one of their worst first periods of the season with one of their best, scoring twice on their own first four shots to give Backstrom a cushion.

With 91 points, the Wild lead the Flames by just one point and have home games against Vancouver, the Avs and the Flames before wrapping up the regular season in Denver.

At Denver, Milan Hejduk scored twice and Peter Forsberg had three assists, including two in a four-goal second period for Colorado.Forsberg replaced Ryan Smyth on the second line to start the second period, and the line of Hejduk (two goals, one assist), Paul Stastny (one goal, two assists) and Forsberg combined for nine points after that.The Avalanche broke a seventh-place tie with the Canucks in the tight Western Conference playoff race. The Canucks lost their third straight.Daniel Sedin, Taylor Pyatt and Sami Salo scored for Vancouver.

At Anaheim, Calif., Mathieu Schneider and Teemu Selanne scored for Anaheim during a shootout and the defending Stanley Cup champions clinched a playoff berth.Anaheim rookie goaltender Jonas Hiller, filling in for the ailing Jean-Sebastien Giguere, ended the shootout at the end of six rounds when he blocked Brian Willsie's shot. Dustin Brown had the only shootout goal for the Kings.Patrick O'Sullivan scored for Los Angeles in the first period, and Anaheim's Bobby Ryan tied it in the second.Los Angeles goalie Erik Ersberg stopped 39 shots.

At Columbus, Ohio, Clay Wilson had a goal and his first assist in his second NHL game.Wilson, David Vyborny and Michael Peca scored in the third period after Joakim Lindstrom put Columbus ahead in the first period.