HOCKEY Road woes continue as Blue Jackets fall to Wild

Wes Walz scored twice to key Minnesota in the 5-2 win.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Wes Walz scored two goals Saturday night and the Minnesota Wild ran their unbeaten streak to five games with a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Walz scored a short-handed goal in the first period and the Blue Jackets were outscored on their own power play for the second straight night. Columbus remained the only NHL team without a road victory, falling to 0-11-1-2 away from Ohio.
Sergei Zyuzin had a goal and two assists, and Antti Laaksonen had a pair of assists for the Wild, who evened their record (14-14-6-0) for the first time since Nov. 19.
Columbus extended its winless streak to eight games (0-7-1), a span in which the Blue Jackets have scored just 11 goals.
On Saturday, they needed help from the Wild to get their first goal. Blue Jackets forward Geoff Sanderson had his centering pass deflect off the leg of Zyuzin and past goalie Dwayne Roloson.
Coming up short
Columbus went 0-for-13 on the power play and gave up a short-handed goal in a 2-1 loss to Calgary on Friday night. The Blue Jackets went 0-for-5 on Saturday.
Walz's short-handed tally opened the scoring, and Matt Johnson made it 2-0 at 5:57 of the first period on a nifty one-timer off a pass by Andrew Brunette.
Sanderson cut Minnesota's lead in half before the end of the first, but Zyuzin answered with a slap shot from above the right circle at 9:21 of the second period.
Walz completed a three-man breakaway for his eighth goal at 13:09 to make it 4-1.
Trevor Letowski of Columbus and Sergei Zholtok of the Wild traded goals in the third period.
Notes
Eric Chouinard, acquired by Minnesota in a trade with Philadelphia on Wednesday, made his first appearance for the Wild. ... Minnesota is one of only six teams in the NHL that does not have a double-digit goal scorer. ... Columbus F Tim Jackman, recalled from Syracuse of the AHL on Friday, made his NHL debut Saturday night.