Takeaways: Wild rally goes for naught in overtime loss to Jets

The Wild are having enough trouble snapping out of their current funk let alone a years-long rut.

They lost their ninth in a row to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night at Grand Casino Arena, getting dumped 4-3 in overtime to drop a season-high fourth straight game.

This is their worst start of the Kirill Kaprizov era; the Wild have nine points through 11 games (3-5-3), their fewest since they had eight after beginning 4-7 in 2019.

Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner for the Jets just 46 seconds into 3-on-3 action.

“Wish we would have came out on top,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “I thought we played the game to do so.”

Trailing 2-0, the Wild got goals from Kaprizov, Faber and Marcus Johansson to take a 3-2 lead and turn the page on another difficult first period in which Winnipeg capitalized twice in 22 seconds.

But former Wild winger Nino Niederreiter tied the score with 8:25 left in regulation.

“It’s more painful going home when you get outplayed and are not there,” Gustavsson said. “Today, we were there, and, yeah, we played the right way.”

For the fifth consecutive game and seventh time in their past eight, the Wild gave up the first goal, this time getting behind 12:16 into the first after Gabriel Vilardi batted in a puck at the side of the Wild net.

By 12:38, Winnipeg was up 2-0 on a play indicative of how little puck luck the Wild have had during their skid: A shot going wide bounced in off an unsuspecting Vladislav Namestnikov.

“We need to get off to better starts,” Gustavsson said. “We can’t be down two goals, three goals.”

But erasing a two-goal deficit has become old hat for the Wild.

Kaprizov ended a goal-mouth scrum caused by a shot from captain Jared Spurgeon when he backhanded in the loose puck in the crease at 6:03. The assist was Spurgeon’s 300th, while Kaprizov’s 401st point moved him into fourth all time in Wild history.

Then, finally, the Wild caught a break: Faber’s shot sailed over the net, but the carom off the boards flew into the slot and was kicked in at 13:12 by Hellebuyck as he turned to scramble back into position.

“The process of the game was a lot better, more indicative of how we can play and the type of game we need to be able to play to win,” coach John Hynes said. “So, I think when you get in a situation where you’re trying to find a way to win games, I think that that process is important, and I thought we got more of that tonight.”

Despite getting bit by a bad call, the Wild persevered.

They saw a power play late in the second period get cut short after Matt Boldy was penalized for high sticking when it was actually the puck that hit Dylan DeMelo up high.

The power play finished 1-for-4, while Winnipeg went 0-for-1.

Johansson has four goals during a three-game streak.

BOXSCORE: Winnipeg 4, Wild 3 (OT)

NHL standings

But Niederreiter got the equalizer off a rush with another former Wild forward, Gustav Nyquist. In overtime, Winnipeg scooped up an errant Kaprizov pass before setting up Connor for the game-deciding wrister.

The Wild have lost four straight Central Division games since their season-opening win at St. Louis.

This was a game in which the Wild deserved better.

That hasn’t always been the case — they’ve clearly looked out of sorts at times during this dip — but they were more determined vs. the Jets.

Still, their execution isn’t doing them any favors.

Tyler Pitlick didn’t get a quality shot off on a breakaway in the first, and then Danila Yurov sent the rebound wide. That puck Joel Eriksson Ek threw through the crease in the second epitomized the Wild’s slide, although they were the beneficiary of some quirky puck plays. But the Wild also worked for them, the team finally getting to the inside regularly and making life difficult for the opposing defense.

“We had our chances,” Faber said. “I thought we were the better team. They came out on top, so that’s how it goes.”