Minnesota Sports Roundup: Wild suffer first loss

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ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota Wild finished off a three game home stand to open the regular season by hosting the Nashville Predators last night in St. Paul.

Despite Dany Heatley's third goal of the season the Wild dropped their first decision and fell to the Predators 3-1. Both Heatley and Zach Parise have points in all three games this season yet the Wild fall to 2-1 on the young season. They'll next be on the ice Friday night at 6:30 from Joe Louis Arena when they face off against the Detroit Red Wings in their first road contest of the season.

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So much for the lockout driving hockey fans away. The Minnesota Wild and Fox Sports North announced on Tuesday that Saturday's season opener agains the Colorado Avalanche was the highest-rated regular season Wild telecast ever on FSN. The 4-2 win garnerd a 7.65 household rating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market according to Nielsen Market Research. That tops the previous high set last season against Winnipeg when the Wild drew a 4.6 rating on December 13, 2011. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, 17,280 households represent one rating point. That means over 132,100 households took in the Wild's home and season opener as the night cap to Hockey Day Minnesota.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves return home tonight to take on the Brooklyn Nets. The T-wolves are in the middle of a stretch that will see them play three of four on the road with the one stop at the Target Center coming Wednesday night. While Brooklyn has won two in a row they've had their issues on the road where tonight they'll look to avoid loss number nine in a row. Could be perfect timing for a Timberwolves club that's been struggling to get anywhere near healthy most of the season. The Wolves have gone 5-12 in their last 17 while Kevin Love is expected to miss his 10th straight game,guard Malcom Lee and forward Chase Budinger are also out and center Nikola Pekovic and rookie Alexy Shved could sit for a third consecutive contest. Tip is at 7 p.m. tonight from Minneapolis.

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Timberwolves guard J.J. Barea received a $5,000 fine from the NBA for flopping against Dallas during a January 14th game. The league determines offenses such as this by video review in its offices after the game has been played. If it happenes again, the next fine handed down from the league will be $10,000.

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The #12th ranked University of Minnesota men's basketball team will be back at it tonight as they hit the road looking to snap a two game losing streak. The Gophers are coming off of back to back losses to Indiana and Michigan so tonight's game should be a little less daunting as the Northwestern Wildcats aren't quite the caliber of the top-half of the Big Ten. This will be a rematch from earlier this season when Northwestern was at the Barn on January 6th. Minnesota got that win in that one, 69-51, with Austin Hollins leading the way with 19 points. Game time tonight is 8 p.m. from Welsh-Ryan Arena.

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Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph is heading to the Pro Bowl. The Vikes second-year player made the team as an injury replacement yesterday when Atlanta's Tony Gonzalez had to decline due to injury. He'll be joined on the NFC roster by Jared Allen, Jerome Felton, Chad Greenway, Adrian Peterson and Blair Walsh. Rudolph had 53 receptions, nine touchdowns and 493 receiving yards this season.

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