Wild falls 4-0 to Kraken as extra minutes from top goal scorers yields nothing

Kirill Kaprizov skated for almost 24 minutes and Matt Boldy was shy of 23, the Wild's top two goal scorers experiencing a bump in ice time with the team playing down a forward.

But extra opportunity didn't equal extra production.

On the contrary, the Wild didn't capitalize at all, stalling 4-0 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday in front of 17,221 at Xcel Energy Center in a showcase of how less can be more.

"We didn't have the energy that we normally do, and we didn't create offense," coach Dean Evason said, "So, consequently, it was kind of a blah game."

Seattle scored three goals on 11 shots and finished 4-for-16 to outperform a Wild lineup that totaled its fewest shots in a game and suffered its first shutout of the season courtesy of a 22-save effort by Kraken goalie Martin Jones.

"Our skill comes from when we play hard," said Boldy, who set a career high in ice time at 22 minutes, 56 seconds. "It starts with us getting in on forechecks and being hard to play against and breaking teams down. That's when the skill comes out.

"I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves tonight and didn't get into that grittier game."

As for Seattle, an expansion team that Evason praised before the game for its progress in Year 2, 10 different players picked up a point in a well-deserved victory; Alex Wennberg scored twice.

"We know that they're a hardworking team, and they just battle and compete kind of from the top down," Matt Dumba said. "We didn't match that whatsoever."

With Brandon Duhaime, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway and Ryan Hartman sidelined with injury, the Wild dressed only 11 forwards and went with seven defensemen.

Evason felt that setup had no bearing on the team's performance.

"I don't think that made any difference in how we played the game," he said.

Still, the Wild looked discombobulated and didn't register their first shot until 11:40 elapsed.

"Trying to be a little too cute with it, myself included," said Boldy, whose three shots were tied with Kaprizov for the most on the team. "We just got away from our game because we were trying to make too many plays."

The Kraken also weren't running away on the shot clock but they were opportunistic.

Morgan Geekie scored off a deflection at 5:02 of the second before a pinching Jamie Oleksiak buried a 4-on-2 rush at 11:34 after a poor line change by the Wild.

"That's just not what hockey players do," Evason said. "You know three forwards can't just change when a team is on the rush. We made a mistake. The guys know it, and it ended up in our net."

Then during its second and last power play, Seattle converted for the third time on its 11th shot when the puck slid off the back of Wennberg's jersey and tumbled into the Wild net with 5:13 left in the period.

Wennberg tallied his second of the game when he tipped the puck by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury 10:35 into the third.

The Wild's power play went 0-for-2. Fleury had 19 saves, and the loss snapped his four-game win streak.

"They were just quicker, stronger on the puck," Jonas Brodin said.

This was the Wild's first game since their manpower became this sapped, with those four regulars all dealing with upper-body injuries.

But because they don't play next until Tuesday, the beginning of a West Coast road trip, the Wild do have some time to potentially get healthier.

"We'll hopefully collect some bodies and collect some energy," Evason said.