Takeaways: Wild rally to force overtime but still lose to lowly Sharks

The Wild not slowing down a surging Utah team is understandable.

But that one-win San Jose was just as much of a handful shows how troubling the Wild’s plight is becoming.

Make that two victories for the Sharks after they persevered 6-5 in overtime Sunday at Grand Casino Arena, where the Wild lost back-to-back nights to fall to 3-5-2 at the 10-game mark. The Wild have only one victory in their past seven games.

“It’s not great,” forward Ryan Hartman said. “We know that. We got to focus on the next game and dig ourselves out. No one else is going to do it for us.”

Three times Sunday the Wild fell behind by a pair of goals, including in the third period, before Zeev Buium and Joel Eriksson Ek scored — the latter coming with 2 minutes, 18 seconds left — to extend the action to 3-on-3 overtime.

There, the Wild looked poised to finish their comeback after dominating the extra session until San Jose teenage star Macklin Celebrini scooped up a rebound and polished off a breakaway at 3:47 for a three-point night.

“We know that we can play really good hockey,” coach John Hynes said. “We know we’re capable of better than what we’re doing. But I did like the fight in the team.”

The Sharks’ William Eklund banked in a shot off Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin on the power play 5:28 into the first period. That deficit doubled at 13:35 when Timothy Liljegren gobbled up Kirill Kaprizov’s clearing attempt and then skated by Kaprizov en route to the net where his rebound was buried by Michael Misa for his first NHL goal.

“It’s hard,” Kaprizov said. “It sometimes happens. We know, everyone, we should play better, and it starts from us, from me especially.”

For a second game in a row, Marcus Johansson started the Wild’s rally.

He tipped in a Marco Rossi pass with his stick on the power play with 2:58 to go in the first for Johansson’s third goal in two games and fourth overall.

Just 32 seconds later, Kaprizov poked the puck past the San Jose defense and dropped a pass to Rossi for the equalizer off a one-timer.

Another Kaprizov turnover led to Eklund getting behind the Wild to wire a puck by goaltender Jesper Wallstedt at 11:15.

Barclay Goodrow’s throw to the middle deflected in off former Wild forward Ryan Reaves only 19 seconds later for a 4-2 Sharks lead.

“The next four shifts after a goal for [or] a goal against are some of the most important shifts in the game,” said Hartman, who left briefly in the third period after suffering a charley horse on a collision with San Jose’s Dmitry Orlov. “You either keep momentum or you kind of start losing momentum. Whether we score or they score, we have to make sure everyone’s next shift is their best shift of the night.”

The Wild were desperate in the third period, and their urgency sparked a photo finish.

They converted again on the power play (2-for-4) when Hartman collected a Kaprizov pass and flung the puck by goalie Yaroslav Askarov at 4:28.

Celebrini handed off to Tyler Toffoli, who walked in from the slot. The assist was Celebrini’s second of the game, and San Jose finished 2-for-2 with the man advantage.

Only 36 seconds after Toffoli scored, the Wild were the beneficiary of an own goal, as Buium’s point shot bounced in off the Sharks’ Ty Dellandrea. Eriksson Ek redirected in a Kaprizov shot to tie San Jose at 5.

Wallstedt, who turned in 19 saves in his third start, faced only one shot in overtime, and it was Celebrini’s game-winner. Askarov made 28 stops.

“We had some looks that didn’t go in,” Hynes said, “and they had one and it went in.”

BOXSCORE: San Jose 6, Wild 5 (OT)

In their past four games and six of the last seven, the Wild have given up the first goal.

“It’s a lot of games,” Kaprizov said. “It’s 3-0 [then] 2-0 today. Yeah, it’s hard.”

The Wild’s situation is becoming more concerning.

Marcus Foligno didn’t play due to an upper-body injury, the severity of which was unclear, as Hynes was waiting on the results of the veteran winger’s X-ray.

Foligno is pointless on the season, and Hynes recently planned to meet with Foligno to try to help him rediscover his game. But he’s a tough presence to replace, especially with the experience that’s already missing up front with Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm still on the mend from their respective surgeries.

Kaprizov’s three assists lifted him to 400 career points.

But the team’s overall unevenness is preventing them from getting back on track, and they’re running low on time to chalk this lull up to a slow start to the season.

“We’re just trying to work our way out of it,” Faber said.