Wild’s muted power play comes back to bite them against Kings

Getting outperformed on the power play didn’t hurt the Wild against Pittsburgh.

Or Tampa Bay. Or Toronto.

But this rut finally caught up with the team on Tuesday night, its 0-for-4 gaffe mirrored in a 5-1 meltdown to Los Angeles at Xcel Energy Center that at one point looked winnable for the Wild.

“In the last couple of games it hasn’t been good enough,” veteran winger Mats Zuccarello said, “and believe me, I think we know. We just can’t let that creep in to our game and get frustrated. It’s gonna come.”

Although their recent three-game win streak camouflaged it, this problem had been percolating for the Wild during the past week. The Wild have failed to score in their past 14 power-play opportunities.

They went 0-for-5 in their 5-3 comeback vs. the Penguins on Oct. 29, blanked on two tries during another 5-3 rally over the Lightning last Friday and were denied three times by the Maple Leafs in the 2-1 overtime victory on Sunday.

But the unit’s dry spell was an unmistakable eyesore against the Kings, especially because of when the Wild whiffed.

The Wild blew their first look late in the first period that carried over to the second, what would have been a fitting reward for how much they dictated play early; they outshot Los Angeles 9-2 through the first.

Later in the second, they botched their do-over. Then after they scored at even strength on defenseman Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season and while missing Kirill Kaprizov after the winger left for stitches following a puck to the face, the Wild received a third opportunity and failed to capitalize once again.

Only 68 seconds after that power play expired, the Kings tied the score before moving ahead on their own power play goal from former Wild forward Kevin Fiala.

When Los Angeles was called for too many men early in the third period, the Wild could have erased their 2-1 deficit.

Instead, the Kings scored their first of three goals in the third after killing off a fourth penalty; the Wild totaled four shots on the power play.

“We started so hot with our seams and with the cute plays,” said defenseman Brock Faber, who quarterbacks the power play from the point. “Obviously teams come in here and pre-scout that. I think it’s every guy, including myself, we got to shoot more pucks. That’s what opens up lanes and opens up second, third, fourth, opportunities. That’s when you score.”

This lull has dropped the Wild to 20%, which ranks 16th in the NHL, after they were fifth at 30.8%.

Aside from not putting pucks on net, coach John Hynes has identified other issues.

“We’re not winning any faceoffs,” he explained, “so we’re always starting on a breakout.”

Los Angeles was effective at standing the Wild up at the blue line, and that forced the Wild to dump pucks into the zone.

“Now, you’re just eating time off the clock,” Hynes continued. “So, that’s one area that’s gotta certainly improve.”

Hynes also mentioned the Wild are trying to make plays while standing still, which is a change from their previous posture.

When they were thriving earlier this season, the Wild were moving pucks and players around the ice.

“We work on it every day,” said Zuccarello, who is on the top unit alongside Kaprizov, Faber, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek. “We try. Everyone, the 10 guys that are on there take pride in the power play, and we want to help our team win. But I think it’s important that we don’t get down on ourselves. When you lose a little bit of confidence, the puck bounces everywhere, and your passes don’t go tape to tape and stuff like that.

“So, in a game like this, we would have liked to score a couple of goals on the power play and help the team. But that was not good enough on our part.”

The power play, though, isn’t the only side of special teams that’s struggling.

At 62.5%, the penalty kill is second-to-last in the NHL. Not only did the PK give up the decisive goal to Fiala, but the Wild haven’t had a clean game since Oct. 24 at Tampa Bay when they went 1-for-1.

Unlike the power play, which was top-10 last season, this is familiar territory for the penalty kill after the Wild finished 30th.

They have shown they can win despite these deficiencies but as their latest loss proved, expecting that to happen all the time isn’t realistic.

“It’s frustrating, right?” Faber said. “Our power play started really hot, and we were really good last year. Obviously, you go in stints like that. And then, yeah, the PK is the same thing.

“It’s frustrating. We have to solve it as quickly as we can.”