For Wild, a whole lot of nothing going on

NASHVILLE - Thursday night's game against the Nashville Predators began at 7:07 p.m.

By 7:15, the Wild should have conceded the two points, flown to Dallas early and rested up for Friday's game that might be even tougher.

All the Wild did the remaining two hours of a dreadful 4-0 loss was waste a bunch of energy that it'll need to beat the Stars in an arena in which Minnesota hasn't won since George W. Bush's first term as president.

At the launch of a crucial four-game trek, the Wild hit the snooze button and never awoke. The start was so astonishingly bad, the game was basically over before the full cast of players got a chance to let loose a bead of sweat.

"It's really disappointing," goalie Niklas Backstrom said. "It was the biggest game of the season, and it's over after 15 minutes."

The Wild gave up three goals in the first period -- two in the first 4:01 -- and then had to swim upstream against the Western Conference's second-best defensive team.

"We didn't have a lot of pushback," coach Todd Richards said. "We had a couple plays here or there, but not nearly enough at this stage of the season."

The dejected Wild couldn't make a pass cleanly, couldn't register a shot from inside the faceoff circles, couldn't make a proper read inside its zone.

"The whole first period, we were just scrambling, couldn't find any groove. I don't know what happened," center Kyle Brodziak said.

The Wild, playing again without injured Mikko Koivu and Cal Clutterbuck, had six shots through the first half of the game and 19 total in the game. Predators goalie Pekka Rinne recorded an easy 20th career shutout.

"They just swarmed us, and we didn't execute. Then they just shut it down," defenseman Greg Zanon said.

The inattention to detail in the Wild's zone in the first period was mind-boggling.

"[The Predators] were really ready, they were focused, they were determined, they battled hard, they didn't give up anything," Backstrom said. "They played a good team game shift after shift."

How about his team?

"It's hard to say right after a game. I'm pretty emotional. I'll probably choose my words wrong," Backstrom said.

Since returning from the All-Star Game, Burns has been a completely different player. His defensive game and decision-making have been erratic. That didn't change Thursday.

"We need him out on the ice playing at his best. He wasn't at his best tonight," Richards said. "We didn't have a lot of guys at their best tonight."

A minute later, Martin Erat made it 3-0.

"It was a bad miss on my part," Miettinen said.

Most disturbing was the Wild's lifeless locker room afterward. Unless Koivu and Clutterbuck return to provide a jolt, this road trip could get ugly.