Wild squander two-goal lead, fall 4-3 to Rangers in shootout

NEW YORK — Since their disastrous debut back in October against the Rangers set the tone for a slow start to the season, the Wild have improved drastically.

They've done a complete 180 on defense and awakened a once sleepy offense to rank among the top teams in the Central Division.

But on the cusp of the midway point of their season and with the team at full strength for the first time in Game No. 40, that progress wasn't on display in the rematch with New York.

Instead, uncharacteristic mistakes held the Wild back and opened the door for a 4-3 shootout rally by the Rangers on Tuesday in front of 18,006 at Madison Square Garden that extended the Wild's losing streak to three games (0-1-2).

This rut is tied for their longest of the season; the last time the team dropped three in a row was Nov. 13-17.

"I don't know if it's us or hockey players in general, [but] they get away from what we know is successful and it hurts us," Wild coach Dean Evason said.

The Rangers' Kaapo Kakko and Artemi Panarin converted in the shootout, capping off a comeback that saw New York erase the Wild's two-goal lead in the second period and then answer back again in the third when Filip Chytil capitalized on a goalmouth scramble at 13 minutes, 35 seconds of the third period.

"I guarantee you they'll say, 'Well, it didn't have any bearing on the game,' but it does," Evason said. "We expended energy. We didn't have a chance to score. We're good in overtime. We want Kirill Kaprizov on the ice and not killing penalties."

Although the Wild (0-for-1 on the power play) denied the Rangers, who went 0-for-3, they couldn't regroup in the shootout: Mats Zuccarello had the lone goal after Kaprizov was stopped for the first time this season (4-for-5) and Frederick Gaudreau hit the outside of the net.

But a loss was in the works long before then.

Despite starting the game with back-to-back penalties, the Wild eked out a 2-0 head start in the first period after goals from Jon Merrill (12:36) and Kaprizov (17:43). At 24 goals and 25 assists, Kaprizov is one point shy of his third consecutive season of at least 50 points.

New York responded in the second period while feasting on turnovers and odd-man rushes.

First, Jimmy Vesey poked the puck away from Matt Boldy and Hopkins' K'Andre Miller won the ensuing puck battle to set up a breakaway that he buried at 2:37.

Next up was Adam Fox, who scooped up a Zuccarello turnover to skate in on a 2-on-1 rush that he wired by Marc-Andre Fleury at 15:50 while action was at 4-on-4.

"We gotta clean up the turnovers that allow teams to gain momentum back on us," Evason said.

These struggles against the Rangers were reminiscent of the Wild's season-opening 7-3 debacle on Oct. 13 at Xcel Energy Center, but they were better in the third.

Zuccarello, who was back after missing two games with an upper-body injury and described his play for two periods as "horrendous," had his shot drop into the net after hitting goaltender Igor Shesterkin's glove at 4:33. Sam Steel's assist was his second of the night. Shesterkin finished with 29 saves.