ST. Denarius Moore College Jersey . PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild found some relief and satisfaction after their first game of the new year. The Buffalo Sabres were the perfect tonic. Jason Pominville scored against his old team, and the Wild beat the Sabres 4-1 on Thursday night to stop a franchise-record streak of six straight losses in regulation. Re-establishing their style and regaining the ground they lost will take some time, but for the Wild this was a strong start. "I cant express how good it feels to get that monkey off our back," defenceman Clayton Stoner said. Marco Scandella scored, just 106 seconds before Pominville. Jason Zucker had the third goal in the second period against Ryan Miller, one of the three goalies recently picked for the U.S. Olympic team. "Ryans been playing really good, and we didnt give him an effort in front of him," captain Steve Ott said. The Wild sure werent feeling sorry for anyone. They won for the first time since Dec. 17, and Niklas Backstrom picked up a victory for the first time in his last nine starts since Nov. 23. With Josh Harding sitting out with an illness, Backstrom stopped 19 shots. "Thats something we have to build on," Backstrom said. "I think thats the first step." Miller made 28 saves, not nearly enough for a Sabres team with by far the worst record and fewest goals in the NHL. They were nearly shut out for the second straight game, following a 3-0 loss at Winnipeg on Tuesday, but Matt Ellis knocked in a loose puck in front of the net with 1:12 left. "I think teams see what we have to offer, adjust, and we dont make any adjustments," Miller said. "We have to be adaptable." The Wild entered the night with the second-lowest scoring average in the league, so naturally the first goal came more than 24 1/2 minutes into the game.