Wild fade gradually and then dramatically against Utah Hockey Club

SALT LAKE CITY – Forget contenders such as Winnipeg and Vegas and longtime rivals in Colorado and Dallas.

No one has pestered the Wild more than Utah Hockey Club, whose inaugural season now includes three victories over the Wild after a 6-1 romp Thursday night at Delta Center to reinforce its playoff chase.

“They were faster, harder, more competitive, made more plays other than some pushes in the game that we had,” coach John Hynes said, “and that was the difference.”

Fortunately for the Wild, this concludes the regular-season matchup with Utah, but the lessons from the latest schooling should linger.

Already third to last in the NHL on the penalty kill, the Wild was dissected for a pair of goals in the first period, including a 5-on-3 stinger in the final minute, to sink into a hole that was insurmountable considering how clunky they were playing.

With 3 minutes, 58 seconds left in the second period, Frederick Gaudreau finally pushed a puck past Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka after a slick cut to the inside. But Utah retaliated only 1:48 later on a Sean Durzi seeing-eye point shot to reinstate a two-goal cushion that ballooned in the third on Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley finishes.

Vejmelka had 15 saves, the Wild’s 16 shots tying their season low, while Marc-Andre Fleury, in his 1,014th start to tie Roberto Luongo for second all time, made 25 stops.

The Wild’s road trip concludes Friday at Colorado.

“We were kind of disconnected from the start,” Jake Middleton said. “They were connected, and we didn’t really gain any traction throughout the 60 minutes, and when we did, we gave up a quick one right after.”

After an early holding penalty against Declan Chisholm, Utah capitalized on its first power play 3:59 into the first when Barrett Hayton swooped into the middle and unleashed a shot that caromed in off Brock Faber’s skate. The Wild had two chances of their own on the power play to respond but were mostly out of sync and went 0-for-2.

But their toughest stretch of the period came during the last minute: After Jonas Brodin was sent off for hooking, Marcus Foligno received a four-minute high-sticking penalty only three seconds into the Utah power play to set up a 5-on-3. With 30 seconds to go, Dylan Guenther buried a one-timer from the left faceoff circle. Keller orchestrated both power-play goals en route to a four-assist night.

“It’s a bummer,” Foligno said. “You don’t want to give up late goals and a momentum swing.”

Overall, the Wild PK went 2-for-4, continuing its rough results coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Although the unit wasn’t officially charged with a goal in the 3-2 loss to Detroit on Tuesday, the Red Wings’ first goal to start their rally came one second after Mats Zuccarello was released from the penalty box on the heels of another otherwise strong showing by the Wild PKers. Detroit also had two power-play goals in the Wild’s 4-3 overtime win last Saturday.

“I don’t want to say shaky confidence,” Foligno said. “We just gotta button up. Little things, just a step behind here, and they got some shifty forwards that make good plays. Gotta give credit to them.

“On the first one, it’s a good play, but it goes off Faber’s skate and in. It’s frustrating, but 5-on-3 we leave a lethal shooter alone. It’s just little things that we gotta think about going into these things and just having a stronger mindset.”

BOXSCORE: Utah Hockey Club 6, Wild 1

NHL standings

Gaudreau’s goal came after the Wild juggled their top two lines, Matt Boldy joining Gaudreau and Vinnie Hinostroza, who was in his fifth game with the Wild since they claimed him off waivers from Nashville.

On Wednesday, the Wild lost defenseman Travis Dermott on waivers to Edmonton, and they used the vacant roster spot to call up forward Brendan Gaunce from the minors to give them an extra.

But if the Wild generated any momentum from Gaudreau’s shutout spoiler, Utah snatched it back before the second ended courtesy Durzi’s insurance marker.

“Freddy makes an unbelievable move like that, and then we give up another one to fall behind the 8-ball again,” Middleton said. “So, it’s frustrating.”

Then in the third period, Schmaltz got ahead of Gaudreau to polish off a 2-on-1 feed from the former Gopher Cooley (3:47) before Keller lifted in a backhander (9:30) and Cooley redirected in another Keller pass (15:01). The Wild didn’t register their first of two shots in the third period until almost 14 minutes had elapsed.

“We felt better about the second,” Gaudreau said. “We felt like we could maybe turn things around. We didn’t.”

This was Utah’s most convincing victory over the Wild; the team blanked the Wild 4-0 in the previous meeting after eking out a 2-1 decision. In their first trip to Salt Lake City, the Wild prevailed 5-4 in a shootout, but they weren’t as resilient in their return and suffered just their eighth regulation loss on the road (21-8-3).

“Obviously, third period was embarrassing,” Foligno said. “It was just one of those things where give them credit. They’re fighting for their lives and … working their butts off and when we had one guy, they had three. We gotta be a lot better tomorrow.”