Wild: Groggy start proves costly

OTTAWA - Why try to beat the Wild's often-unforgiving trap with passes when you've got the talent to skate right through it?

In Tuesday's first period, the Ottawa Senators charged through the neutral zone with speed from the defensive zone. Like a matador to a bull, the Wild graciously waved its red cape and said, "Olé."

Only in this case, the bull didn't die.

Evidently thinking the opening faceoff was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT instead of 7:30 ET, the Wild couldn't recover after spotting the surging Senators a three-goal first-period lead and eventually a 4-0 lead.

The result was a 5-3 loss.

Whatever the excuse, if the Wild would have arrived on time, it possibly could have left town victors because it completely outplayed Ottawa in the final 40 minutes, unleashing 37 of its 45 shots.

"It seems we can't get a good start lately," said left wing Pascal Dupuis, who scored the first goal in the Wild's failed comeback attempt.

Continued Dupuis: "Last three, four games, we want to play comeback hockey. It's tough to come back every game."

Without naming names, coach Jacques Lemaire pinned Tuesday's defeat square on the skates of defense partners Kim Johnsson and Nick Schultz, who got caught in dreamland and surrendered a pair of breakaways in the opening period.

Manny Fernandez stopped the first one by Dany Heatley. Fernandez couldn't stop the second when Chris Kelly disregarded Schultz's slashes from behind to give Ottawa a 2-0 lead 68 seconds after Andrej Meszaros gave the Senators a 1-0 lead.

"We had two of our defensemen just not ready," Lemaire said. "That, to me, gave them a lot of life. Hell, you start [by getting] two breakaways, you think, 'That's our night.' "

Schultz took the blame, saying, "They're a team that is going to fly out of the zone. With the speed they have and talent they have, you have to be aware of that and make sure they don't get ... breakaways."

The Wild, which rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat Nashville last week, dropped to 3-6-1 in its past 10 and is barely clinging to its season-long Northwest Division lead -- Edmonton is only two points behind.

It also lost center Wes Walz after he reaggravated his lingering hip flexor injury for the fourth time this season.

Minnesota also played with five defensemen for most of the night after Ottawa's Chris Neil elbowed Petteri Nummelin in the face in the first period. Nummelin sustained a gash above his top lip but said he'll be in the lineup Wednesday.

Neil got away with the elbow and Walz took a hooking penalty seconds later. To add insult to injury, Neil made it 3-0 on the power play.

Daniel Alfredsson extended the lead to 4-0 in the second, but the Wild outshot the Sens 17-7 and cut it to 4-1 on Dupuis' power-play goal. Brian Rolston then became the seventh player since 2000 to score two penalty-shot goals in the same season midway through the third after Mike Fisher closed his hand on the puck in the crease.

But the Wild couldn't complete the comeback.

"We tried to get out of the first period and reboot, but sometimes the damage is too severe," Fernandez said.

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com