Wild claim Vinnie Hinostroza off waivers, put Jakub Lauko on injured reserve

The Wild have a new option for their sputtering offense.

They claimed forward Vinnie Hinostroza off waivers from Nashville on Wednesday after winger Jakub Lauko went on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury that’s similar to the nagging issue that sidelined him earlier this season.

Hinostroza, 30, joined the Predators in late December after getting called up from the minors.

At the time, he was the American Hockey League’s leading scorer. In 13 games with Nashville, he chipped in two assists.

A sixth-round draft pick by Chicago in 2012, Hinostroza has also suited up for Arizona, Florida, Buffalo and Pittsburgh during his 387-game NHL career; he has 54 goals and 99 assists and will wear No. 18.

Lauko tallied one assist in the nine games he played after returning from a second injury hiatus.

The Wild are also missing forward Ryan Hartman while he serves a 10-game suspension for roughing Ottawa’s Tim Stützle that the NHL Players’ Association is appealing on Hartman’s behalf. Commissioner Gary Bettman will hear the appeal.

While the Wild did enough on defense to rebound from their disastrous display recently against Ottawa, they’re still stuck in a rut at the other end of the rink.

They were blanked by Boston 3-0 on Tuesday to finish their road trip with back-to-back shutouts despite earning more and better-quality chances than in their 6-0 meltdown to the Senators on Saturday.

That means their search for scoring moves into unfavorable territory: The Wild are at Xcel Energy Center beginning Thursday vs. Carolina, where goals and wins have been in short supply.

“Bounces are going to come,” center Marco Rossi said. “So we can’t have our heads down. Head up and just keep going.”

After having all 36 of their shots stopped by Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, and another 35 tries get blocked or miss the net, the Wild are on their longest scoreless skid in more than two years.

Not since Nov. 3-8, 2022, have they been shut out in consecutive games (by Seattle and Los Angeles). Yes, this drought coincides with leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov’s absence; he’s recovering from surgery on a lower-body injury and is still weeks away from returning.

But capitalizing wasn’t an issue during the team’s three-game win streak that preceded this two-game blip.

In fact, that’s when the Wild’s depth scoring was the best it’s been this season: The fourth line was contributing, as were the second and third. Now, no one’s delivering.

“We’re trying to score goals,” captain Jared Spurgeon said. “But sometimes just simplifying and keep shooting is the thing to do.”

While the goose egg against Ottawa mirrored how out of sync the team was all over the ice, the Wild weren’t in a lopsided battle with Boston.

They had their moments where they hemmed the Bruins in, spurts that lacked execution to make them show up as goals on the scoreboard. But compared to their previous performance, that was progress.

“The game in Ottawa you can just completely write off,” Spurgeon said. “That was just a completely embarrassing game, but this one was a bit different. I thought we had looks and chances, but they just weren’t going. You can have a little frustration, but at the same time, you just gotta keep going and not change the way we’re playing there.”

Coach John Hynes pointed out that the sustained pressure actually helped the Wild limit Boston because “we were able to play offense, which is your best defense.”

Still, a dry spell like this is unusual for the Wild, and now they’re returning to St. Paul, where their production pales compared to when they’re on the road.

Not only are their 62 tallies on home ice a significant dropoff from the 91 they’ve accrued as the away team, but the Wild rank second to last in the NHL in goals at home; only the Kings, with 61, have converted less.

During their last homestand, the Wild were shut out 4-0 by Utah Hockey Club on Jan. 23 and had just one goal vs. Calgary on Jan. 25 until adding three in the final 5:45 before falling short 5-4.

“As long as you generate chances and you’re not getting them because you’re cheating on offense, I think we played a pretty good game,” said winger Marcus Johansson, who was back in action after sitting out eight games with a concussion. “We just couldn’t get any goals. It feels like after the first and second the score could have been different, but it wasn’t.”

Boston’s second goal was reflective of the Wild’s funk.

After winger Marcus Foligno was dumped into the net, missing Rossi’s centering pass, the Bruins transitioned the other way — while Johansson was down, too, after he was tripped up — and buried the puck behind goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Then, even in the waning seconds as the Wild made a last-ditch attempt to solve Swayman with an extra attacker and while a Boston player was without a stick, the Wild couldn’t connect, and instead the Bruins relieved the pressure by hitting an empty-netter from 122 feet away.

Although the result was more of the same, the process changed.

Whether that improvement will show up as momentum in Minnesota is to be determined.

“We put together a better effort,” Spurgeon said. “We just can’t let that frustration in and let it linger. We got a big game at home on Thursday, and we gotta look forward to that.”

Thursday, 6:30 p.m., Xcel Energy Center

TV; radio: ESPN+/Hulu; 100.3 FM

Game preview: Carolina’s road trip kicked off Tuesday with a 3-0 loss at Winnipeg. That was the second straight game the Hurricanes dropped since going on a seven-game point streak. The last time they’d been shut out was 4-0 by the Wild on Jan. 4. Still, Carolina has one of the most consistent offenses in the league with a 3.26 goals-per-game average. But RW Mikko Rantanen has scored just once in the five games he’s played since joining the Hurricanes in a stunning trade from the Avalanche on Jan. 24.

Injuries: Wild LW Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) and RW Jakub Lauko (lower body) are out. Hurricanes LW Juha Jaaska didn’t play last game because of illness. LW William Carrier (lower body), RW Jesper Fast (neck) and C Tyson Jost (lower body) are out.