Analysis: A lot of good, but even more bad, for the Wild

The Wild hurled 52 shots on net, the most in franchise history, and a career-high 11 belonged to Kirill Kaprizov.

He and Matt Boldy picked up another three points apiece, the first Wild players to do so in back-to-back games to open a season, and Zeev Buium scored his first NHL goal for one of four Wild power-play conversions during a whopping eight opportunities.

As for the Wild’s opponent, the Columbus Blues Jackets? They won.

“Weird game,” Wild coach John Hynes said.

As much good as there was in the Wild’s effort, there was also enough bad to dilute it down to a 7-4 head-scratcher Saturday night at Grand Casino Arena for a 1-1 start to the season.

“Like every player and like the team, it’s a work in progress,” Hynes said. “Nobody right now is a finished product two games in, and your team’s not. Whether it’s individual players or the team, we just keep moving.”

On the heels of a 5-0 victory at St. Louis on Thursday night, the Wild saw Columbus flip the script on them.

“We had coverage. It wasn’t by surprise,” Hynes said. “Those are the little details where, OK, we know what it is. We watched it an hour before the game. But that’s what happened.”

There were struggles against St. Louis, too, but the Blues didn’t make the Wild pay.

The Blue Jackets did, even though they almost undermined their offense by committing eight penalties; four were delay-of-game penalties, with three because of pucks over the boards and one from an unsuccessful goalie interference challenge on Boldy’s goal.

“We want to be difference-makers on power play, and I think we did well tonight,” said Buium, the rookie defenseman one-timing in his first career goal from the left circle during the third period of only his second regular-season game. “We also had two in the first that we didn’t score on either. So, scoring on those, and you never know what happens.”

But there were other what ifs.

“It’s all of us but especially all the centerman,” said Joel Eriksson Ek, who went 8-for-21. “We’re in there. There’s going to be bounces, but if we can win as many as we can, then we can start with the puck. So, we need to do better going forward.”

Kaprizov and Boldy continue to deliver, each sporting two goals and four assists, but the Wild’s second line of Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno and Vladimir Tarasenko hasn’t gained traction.

Their only production (a goal and two assists for Eriksson Ek and an assist for Tarasenko) has come on the power play.

Hynes mentioned the team will look at making a change.

Yakov Trenin, Ryan Hartman and Marcus Johansson have been a presence as the third line, while Liam Ohgren, Hunter Haight and Vinnie Hinostroza have logged fewer minutes. The Wild also have Danila Yurov waiting in the wings to make his NHL debut.

It’s only two games but with two very different results, and the Wild have a clear idea of what they need to fix going into a Monday night meeting with the Los Angeles Kings, who gave the Wild trouble last season.