Three shots that sailed wide and three giveaways, including an egregious one on the power play.
Even rookie phenom Kirill Kaprizov wasn't immune from the lackluster moments that plagued the Wild when the team reported for a Friday evening date with the Ducks that felt like a snoozefest compared to the playoff preview earlier in the week against the West Division-leading Golden Knights.
But then Kaprizov fished out another impressive skill from his toolbox, and that's the ability to rise above the adversity and deliver the most important play of the game.
Kaprizov scored 17 seconds into overtime to lift the Wild to a 4-3 win against Anaheim in front of 3,000 at Xcel Energy Center, his second career overtime clincher and team-leading 27th goal.
"He's a special player," said Joel Eriksson Ek, who handed off the puck to Kaprizov before Kaprizov charged up ice and buried his own rebound. "Every time he gets the puck, you can feel it in the arena. It's amazing the things he does."
This was the Wild's fourth overtime finish in its past five game, an electrifying ending to an otherwise sloppy display: the Wild fell behind early to the last-place Ducks and twice blew a lead, including in the third period, while mostly looking off in between.
"I don't think we played well at all," Ryan Suter said. "These are tough games. You play a team like Vegas and then play a team like tonight, and they really didn't have a lot to lose. They were coming at us, and I think we got caught into that — turning pucks over and trying to make fancy plays. We got away from playing the way that got us to this point in the season."
Anaheim was in control early and got rewarded for it, scoring on a breakaway by Max Comtois at 7:11 of the first.