Wild Bitten By Sharks, 3-1

There was no upset Tuesday night in either the political realm or the hockey rink. Just as Republican presidential candidate John McCain couldn't outperform Barack Obama, so too could the Minnesota Wild fail to unseat the Western Conference's top team, the San Jose Sharks (11-2-0).

Sharks Jamie McGinn and Ryane Clowe scored just over two minutes apart to take the lead for good. The Fish outshot the Wild 21-5 in the third frame and 49-24 for the game. It was Minnesota's eighth consecutive loss to San Jose. The last win came Oct. 21, 2006.

Wild call-up Krys Kolanos scored his first NHL goal in three years, and the Wild looked formidable despite not playing Marian Gaborik, Owen Nolan and Brent Burns--all suffering injuries. But the talent of San Jose was too much as the game entered its final stage.

The Wild (7-3-1) has lost three out of four games.

Seeing stars: Former Wild right winger Mark Parrish has signed with the Dallas Stars. Parrish, 31, will make $500,000 as part of the one-year deal. He had 16 goals and 14 assists in 66 games last year.

Smooches: Wild winger Stephane Veilleux has a pair of lips and knows how to use them. On Saturday in Phoenix, Veilleux leaned over and gave teammate James Sheppard a peck on the helmet during a break in play in which the "Kiss Cam" targeted the two players on the Wild bench.

"It was just kind of funny," Veilleux said in the Star Tribune. "It's all for the fans. That's why I did it. We should be entertaining the fans, and I thought it would be fun for them."

On tap: The Wild travel to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche (5-7) on Thursday night.