As losses mount, Wild realizing they're not the same team as last season

When the Wild switched to the wrong side of not one, not two, but three audacious scores to kick off the season, that was a sign.

Another giveaway was the 4-0 eyesore to Seattle on Nov. 3, the first of back-to-back shutouts, after the Wild were blanked just once in 2021-22 and not until February.

Then came the exclamation point this week.

What had the makings of one of their former third period, pull-the-goalie rallies fizzled into a one-goal loss at Nashville. Then another comeback try vs. Pittsburgh went haywire despite a 12-second flashback to their old-school ways.

The Wild have most of the same players from a season ago when they shattered franchise records and finished near the top of the Western Conference, but they are a different team.

"We can't keep comparing the two," Matt Dumba said. "It's a new year."

Even before the results reinforced this transformation, the clues were there.

If that wasn't enough proof the Wild had changed, their performance a month-plus into the schedule supplied additional evidence.

"Our record is our record, and maybe rightfully so," Marcus Foligno said. "But there's worse records out there and we're wins away from building something and snowballing something that we can be proud of."

After dropping three in a row, the Wild are 7-8-2. Five of those regulation losses have come in St. Paul.

Last season, the Wild were defeated only seven times in regulation at Xcel Energy Center, outscoring the opposition 164-114.

They fell 7-3 (to the New York Rangers), 7-6 (Los Angeles) and 6-3 (Colorado) on their season-opening homestand. In eight home games, the Wild have given up 10 more goals than they've scored, and up next is a visit on Saturday from 10-win Carolina.

Overall, the Wild are in the bottom third for scoring, averaging less than three goals a game on the heels of scoring a franchise-high 305 goals and ranking fifth in the NHL with almost four a game.

And that dip is connected to another difference, and that's the lack of resiliency.

Nearly half of the Wild's wins in 2021-22 were comebacks, and they had 10 rebounds in the third period while also posting the most two-goal turnarounds (eight).

To date, they've come from behind in the third twice and have yet to overcome a multi-goal deficit.

While they secured an early tally in the third period on Tuesday, they never took the next step and were stumped 2-1 by the Predators. On Thursday, two goals in 12 seconds did lift them out of a two-goal hole, a snapshot of the spunk that made them so dynamic in the past, but they couldn't build on the momentum and the Penguins ran away 6-4.

"We just were so relentless last year with our pursuit of things," Dumba said, "but we understood our roles and what we needed to do. I don't want to compare, but we need to find that. And that's when we'll be at our best, when all of us are pulling in the same direction and managing the game the right way and make sure we're doing the things in the hard areas that we need to do. I think that's what we did last year."

During this adversity, the Wild haven't idled and continue to adjust.

Jordan Greenway might return Saturday after suffering a setback with a shoulder injury that sidelined him earlier this season, and Alex Goligoski will rejoin the action after being the extra defenseman.

Tyson Jost, who's been a healthy scratch for five games, was placed on waivers. Nic Petan was recalled from the minors and Sam Steel is the latest to center Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

"The season's a work in progress," coach Dean Evason said.