Souhan: Missing Kirill Kaprizov, Wild go quietly at X, where they’ve struggled all season

The Wild just started a seven-game homestand.

I apologize if that sounds like a threat.

On Sunday, the Wild played Pittsburgh, one of the NHL’s worst teams, at Xcel Energy Center. The Penguins won 3-1 while experiencing the sound of one hand not clapping.

The X was quiet. Library quiet for most of the game.

In the third period, with the home team trying to rally, the scoreboard flashed the message “Make some noise,” which is a reminder that you should always define your terms.

“Some” was not enough. Until Ryan Hartman scored late in the third period, the audience had little to cheer about and certainly did not seem willing to expend any energy in an effort to prompt action.

Whether on the ice, in the stands or in the postgame locker room, the vibe could be summed up by two words: “uh” and “oh.”

The Wild are slumping. Three of their best players — Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin — are not close to returning. There are 18 games remaining in the regular season, and the players sound quite frustrated.

“We gotta do this together,” left winger Marcus Foligno said. “We’re in this thing, and we can get it back on the tracks this week. … This is the crucial time of year. We’re getting down to where there’s 18 games left, and we need some wins fast."

Playing at home should be a positive, but this team might need to simulate a few flight delays to play its best.

One of the strangest aspects of this Wild season is that this team is better on the road than at home.

The records: 22-10-3 on the road and 14-14-1 at home.

Before reaching for the thesaurus to find synonyms for “frustration,” let’s remember what expectations were for this team starting the season.

They were low. Last season, the Wild missed the playoffs and fired a competent coach, replacing Dean Evason with John Hynes. We all knew that this would be the last year that the Wild would have to deal with the financial restrictions caused by the releasing of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

That this team performed so well through mid-December is a credit to Hynes and the players.

The Wild’s ability to withstand key injuries and keep winning enabled their overachievement.

At some point, playing without Kaprizov was going to cost this team, and this is that point.

If this team falters during this homestand, or collapses down the stretch, these frustrations will mount, but the true cause of this team’s struggles is its inability to score goals. Which is a direct result of Kaprizov’s injury.

This team is well coached. This team plays with effort. When you don’t score enough goals, every little mistake anyone makes becomes magnified. And pressure shifts to younger players.

Matt Boldy hasn’t scored a goal in 16 of his past 18 games. Marco Rossi hasn’t scored in his past six games.

There is a large gap between being a contributing scorer and being a go-to scorer. Without Kaprizov, Boldy and Rossi are squeezing grooves into their sticks.

“That’s how the last two games have gone for us,” Hynes said. “But you’ve got to dig in and continue to find ways.

“The positive side of it is we’re getting the chances. The last two games, they haven’t gone in for us. But I think when you go down the road you’re talking about, it’s the process of trying to get there.”

Coaches have no choice but to rely on “process.” But this is a team that needs results.

What the Wild need now is something like a miracle. They need Kaprizov to not only return but to return to form quickly and be ready to play well in the playoffs.

Then they need to wind up with a reasonable first-round matchup, even though they are stuck in a remarkably talented division.

Want some good news? They are on track to start a playoff series, should they qualify for one, on the road, where the snoring of their fans at the X won’t be a distraction.