Playing without Kirill Kaprizov, Wild rally for a point in 4-3 shootout loss at Calgary

CALGARY, ALBERTA – This time last year, the Wild were starting over.

Coach John Hynes arrived 20 games into what ended up being an unsalvageable but still significant season: While the Wild never caught up to a playoff spot, they were laying the groundwork for a transformation that finally sunk in during training camp and has continued to click ever since.

Now, after a very different 20 games, the Wild are the second-best team in the NHL.

“You’re starting to see some things really take hold,” Hynes said. “It’s more automatic.”

Without an injured Kirill Kaprizov, the Wild rallied for a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Flames on Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Saddledome to return home with five out of six points after two previous wins.

At 13-3-4, the Wild trail only their Central Division rival Jets in the standings, making Monday night’s showdown at Xcel Energy Center a battle between the first- and second-place teams in the league.

“We’re playing really good,” Marcus Johansson said. “We’re always in the games it feels like, and that’s a good sign. So, we’re building our game every night. I feel like and we’re getting better and better.”

Calgary prevailed in a five-round shootout after Justin Kirkland and Rasmus Andersson capitalized and only Frederick Gaudreau converted for the Wild, who scored twice in the last 4 minutes of the third period to force extra time.

Brock Faber connected on the power play at 16:01 before Marco Rossi delivered the equalizer with 34 seconds left while goaltender Filip Gustavsson (28 saves) was on the bench for an extra attacker to continue a comeback that lacked the Wild’s MVP.

Kaprizov didn’t suit up after taking a knee-on-knee hit from the Oilers’ Drake Caggiula in the Wild’s 5-3 victory on Thursday, a collision that sidelined Kaprizov briefly before he returned.

Kaprizov will get evaluated again on Sunday, Hynes said, “and then we’ll go from there.” Hynes classified Kaprizov and Marat Khusnutdinov, who didn’t play either also because of a lower-body injury, as day to day. The Wild were already missing Mats Zuccarello, who has been out since getting hit by a shot on Nov. 14.

This was the first game Kaprizov sat out after his 34 points through 19 games were tied for the league lead going into Saturday.

“We still have a good team even though Kirill’s out,” Johansson said. “Obviously, when you’re missing maybe the best player in the world right now, it’s not a good thing. But we still have other players that can play, and I think we showed that.”

The Wild tabbed Hopkins native Travis Boyd to make his team debut alongside his Iowa Wild teammates Devin Shore and Ben Jones, with Boyd arriving in Calgary at noon and running the last two blocks to the arena through the snow with his bag on his back and team services manager Dominic Hennig carrying Boyd’s sticks.

“I could tell you a million stories of me watching Wild games and going to Wild games as a kid and to do it for real and not a preseason game, it was a crazy 24 hours,” Boyd said. “But at the same time, super special and I’m super proud.

“At the very least if I never come back up and play again, I’ve played one game for the Minnesota Wild and that’s pretty cool to say for a kid from Minnesota.”

The new-look Wild lineup fell behind first for only the seventh time this season on a deflection by the Flames’ Kevin Rooney 15 minutes into the first period, but the Wild responded just 1:03 later when Johansson one-timed a 2-on-1 pass from Matt Boldy for Johansson’s second goal in as many games; Boldy’s six-game point streak is a season high.

Calgary retook the lead with 31 seconds left in the second period on a redirect by Martin Pospisil while the Wild’s Jakub Lauko was in the box for a questionable goalie interference penalty.

“The ref that’s right there seeing it doesn’t make a call,” Ryan Hartman said, “and then the ref that has a net in front of him and can’t see actually what happened and just looking at the result [does].”

Another power play goal, this time courtesy a Yegor Sharangovich shot 3:53 into the third, doubled the Flames’ lead and they finished a perfect 2-for-2 with the man advantage.

The Wild’s power play went 1-for-3 after Faber’s goal against goalie Dan Vladar (20 saves), which came on the heels of a 3-for-32 skid.

“It’s frustrating,” Faber said. “You want to win the special-teams battle when you can … but I think our pushback was good. Far from perfect, but the response when we went down 3-1 was a great sign.”

So is the Wild’s overall performance.

They’re 9-1-3 on the road, with a league-high 21 points. Them and only three other teams have yet to lose consecutive games in regulation, and the Wild are among league leaders in goals-against per game (2.40) and save percentage (.916); same with Gustavsson (9-3-3/2.13/.924). The Wild’s 3.45 goals-per-game is top-10.

“There’s lots of players on our team that are playing really well,” Hynes said, “and when you play with a strong collective effort and guys are playing at the top of their games, then that’s the recipe to win regardless of who’s in and out.”

Wednesday will officially signal a year on the job for Hynes, and his impact is clear.

Hynes changed the Wild’s style last season, emphasizing a quick transition from defense to offense that has made positioning predictable for players to interpret as second nature, but “it’s hard to do that [switch] midseason,” Gustavsson said.

Training camp is really when the Wild adjusted, and Hynes’s leadership has been a blend of development, teaching and encouragement.

“He knows how to squeeze the maximum from everybody and now everybody plays hard, plays 100% every game and together,” said Yakov Trenin, who played for Hynes when they both were with Nashville.

Video sessions are detailed and thorough, illuminating what the Wild have to do to succeed, including in particular situations.

As for communication, Hynes is constructive instead of critical.

“He’s hard on you in the right way,” Marcus Foligno said. “He’s not gonna come in here and yell and scream at you. But when he’s trying to deliver a message, he’s stern in his voice and that’s what he wants to see out of you.”

Still, a turnaround this drastic this soon is impressive, so much so that the Wild have graduated from a good start to begin endorsing these results as their actual potential.

“You want to get off to a great start like this, but maybe there’s a feeling of it’s going to be more of a process and we’ll just stick with it,” Foligno said. “But … I knew that we were always a team that could be top of the league. I believe in it.”