NEW YORK — The Wild's current skid isn't as troubling as their mid-November swoon, and not even in the same ZIP code as the season-opening funk.
But if they don't close out the first half of their season on Thursday with a win against the Islanders, the Wild will have extended this rut longer than the others by losing a fourth straight game.
Considering the strides they've made since their previous lulls, hitting a rough patch like that now would be bizarre.
"We all know it's not good enough," goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "The standings are so close. To make playoffs, you need points, right? You need to get wins.
"It's about getting out of the slump as quickly as possible and start winning again."
This three-game slide hasn't been entirely unproductive.
At 0-1-2, the Wild have picked up a pair of points, most recently snagging one after falling 4-3 in a shootout to the Rangers on Tuesday when their New York road trip began. Before that, the Blues shut them out and they were denied by the Sabres in overtime.
Overall, with a record of 22-14-4, the Wild can still start the second half with 50 points and be on pace to finish with triple digits, which was more than enough to secure a playoff spot in the Western Conference last year.
During this stretch, the Wild have also restored their roster to full strength, resolving the health issues that had plagued them since the offseason.
However, that's another reason why the Wild slowing down doesn't add up: They finally have everyone available with an opportunity to build off the progress they achieved when that wasn't the case. What's missing is the defensive structure that spawned their early-season turnaround.
"We'll catch ourselves," coach Dean Evason said. "We'll have a little adjustment and go from there."
Through the first three losses Oct. 13-17 to the Rangers, Kings and Avalanche, the Wild were tagged for an eye-popping 20 goals.
They weren't as porous when they dropped another three Nov. 13-17 vs. the Sharks, Predators and Penguins, giving up 10 regulation goals, and the 12 surrendered during their active slide isn't much worse. But this comes on the heels of the Wild limiting the opposition to two goals or fewer in nine out of the previous 11 games.
What stung them against the Rangers were careless plays with the puck, turnovers that created odd-man rushes; all but one of their goals were a direct result of a giveaway. Fleury's 40 saves were a season high, and the 43 shots he faced tied for the most against the Wild this season.
"It's completely our mistake," Evason said. "Sure, they're good players. They get good pressure on us. We know they have good sticks. We know they do turn the puck over, but we can't contribute.
"[Mika] Zibanejad's line's going to steal pucks. They're going to turn pucks over. We can live with those if they make great plays, but we can't live with just giving them the puck."
Defense was the Wild's biggest issue at the outset, but the ensuing renovation project turned a stingy style into their identity.
Unless they take a page out of last season's playbook and suddenly start to outscore their problems, the Wild reinstating tight security around their net seems like the best strategy the rest of the way.
"It's a long season," winger Mats Zuccarello said. "It goes to stretches where you feel like you're trying to make the right play and it's not the right play, and stretches where you can't do anything wrong.
"That's surges during the season that you gotta cope with and try to get out of as quick as possible. I think that's normal, but I think we all know how to play and what we've got to do."