Wild lose again, 6-0 to Coyotes as returning Kirill Kaprizov, Filip Gustavsson no help

Kirill Kaprizov was back and so was Filip Gustavsson.

Matt Dumba was in the building, too, his first game against the Wild since he left last summer after 10 seasons.

But the most impressive return of the night belonged to Nick Bjugstad.

The Blaine native waxed his former team, scoring his second career hat trick in a 6-0 dusting by the Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center that led to a Wild players-only postgame meeting.

The Wild have dropped four in a row and eight of the past nine games.

"It's embarrassing to lose like that at home," Mats Zuccarello said. "I think everyone, every single guy in here, feels the same way. It's just not good enough."

This was the first of four meetings between these new Central Division rivals, a matchup that a few weeks ago when the Wild were winning had the potential to decide the Western Conference wild-card race. But if the Wild continue to play like this, Arizona won't have to look in the rear-view mirror; the Coyotes now have a five-point cushion.

"Arizona's a good team, don't get me wrong," Gustavsson said. "But we're creating their chances, too — by a mile. That doesn't help us. And letting in six goals at home soil is unacceptable, and the crowd had every right to boo us out there tonight."

The gap between upstart Arizona and the Wild could have been bridged in this game had the Wild swept their weekend back-to-back without giving up a point to the Coyotes.

Instead, they coughed up a two-goal lead in the third period before falling 4-3 in overtime to Philadelphia on Friday and then were routed for the third time this week; the Wild were dominated 4-0 and 7-2 by Dallas on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

During their past five regulation losses, they have been outscored 24-4.

"Giving too easy [of] goals," Zuccarello said. "We battled hard, we create chances, but it's too easy for them to score. We're not playing near good enough."

Getting healthier looked like their way out of this slump, but the Wild still struggled even with their leading scorer and top goalie back in action.

Kaprizov and Gustavsson missed the previous seven games after getting hurt Dec. 30 at Winnipeg, Gustavsson suffering a lower-body injury and Kaprizov exiting because of an upper-body issue after getting cross-checked in the back.

The Wild are still without defenseman Jonas Brodin, captain Jared Spurgeon and forward Vinni Lettieri. They sent Jesper Wallstedt, who made his NHL debut while Gustavsson was on the mend, back to the minors.

"It was great to have them back in the lineup," coach John Hynes said. "But our team performance wasn't close to what it needed to be."

Take their disastrous start.

Arizona capitalized twice on the power play in three chances, beginning when Clayton Keller set up Alex Kerfoot for a slam-dunk one-timer only 5 minutes, 7 seconds into the first period.

Bjugstad tallied his first of the night at 11:47, a one-timer after a failed clear by the Wild.

Then with 2:39 to go in the period, Bjugstad tipped a puck off Dakota Mermis' skate and into the net while Joel Eriksson Ek was in the penalty box.

"I agree with [Zuccarello]," Kaprizov said. "We can't play like this at home. Doesn't matter home or on the road, it's 6-0. It was not a great game."

The Wild didn't fare much better in the second.

Keller wove a shot through traffic and behind Gustavsson at 1:51 before Bjugstad polished off his first hat trick since March 6, 2018, when he was with Florida. Bjugstad wired in a shot off the rush at 6:40 to elicit a handful of hats from the crowd. Before this game, Bjugstad had five goals and none since Dec. 4. But the former Gopher who played two seasons for the Wild ended a 16-game drought.

"I grew up where this was the mecca, this arena," Bjugstad said. "I don't really know how to put it into words. It's a fun one to have and a fun one to have with this team."

Gustavsson was pulled after giving up five goals on 18 shots.

Marc-Andre Fleury had 14 stops in relief.

"Of course the timing's a little off," Gustavsson said. "The game is way quicker than in practice, and getting that timing right is hard. I tried my best. I wasn't good enough today. That's what happens."

Soon after the change, the Wild appeared to spoil Coyotes goalie Connor Ingram's shutout bid when Pat Maroon roofed a loose puck by Ingram at 9:55. But Arizona challenged, and video review determined Maroon pushed the Coyotes' Josh Brown into Ingram, impeding Ingram's ability to make a stop.

Keller added another goal on a breakaway just 38 seconds into a third period that also included the Wild blanking on their third power play.

Ingram finished with 38 saves in his NHL-leading fifth shutout of the season.

The Wild don't have much time to figure out how to ignite their offense and fix their defense.

They play again on Monday against the Islanders.

"We just didn't have legs," Hynes said. "We didn't have good execution, didn't win many puck battles. So that's part of the process is we gotta figure out the right plan between now and 5 o'clock on Monday to rejuvenate mentally, physically and make sure we have a better performance."