Ryan Suter: 7th-straight loss represents 'rock bottom' for Wild

Things are bleak in Minnesota these days, and it's not just the winter weather.

The Wild have lost seven games in a row, with the latest coming courtesy of Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, the NHL's best team this season.

"Everything about this stinks," Ryan Suter said Thursday. "You usually have to hit rock bottom to go up, and I feel like we've hit rock bottom."

Dating back to Jan. 1, the Wild have won only three of 18 games, dropping out of the Western Conference playoff picture.

Although Minnesota hasn't quite hit rock bottom in the grand scheme of things, their chances of qualifying for the playoffs are now less than 50 percent, according to Sports Club Stats.

Minnesota's next game is at home against Boston, with Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton all on deck.

A failure to pick up several points in this critical stretch would give further credence to Suter's rather hyperbolic assessment.