Wild notes: Five games in 14 days disruptive to team's rhythm

The Wild, especially its top line of Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville, is looking forward to getting into a routine now.

After oddly playing only five games in the season's first 14 days, the Wild began a stretch of four games in six nights Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"It's weird," Pominville said of the schedule full of early layoffs for a second year in a row. "It almost feels like an [American Hockey League] schedule where you get the week off and then play three in four. It's a little different and tough to get into a rhythm."

Pominville, who has no goals and four assists in six games, is like most players. He likes to get in a groove by playing every other night or so, and he hopes with more games now, the more productive he and his linemates will become.

The line was coming off two so-so nights in Los Angeles and Anaheim. They faced tough matchups, especially in Anaheim, where Ryan Kesler's line played head-to-head with them most of the night.

"You want to produce more and help the way you're capable," Pominville said. "It will come if we stick to doing what we do well and not cheat the system. When we're going well, we're capable of scoring in a lot of different ways."

The line struck early Thursday when Parise scored his league-leading sixth goal in the first period.

Parise wasn't too fond of the way his line played in California. He said the trio must be better in the neutral zone, although he said the ice in Anaheim was as bad as he's played on and was the cause of a lot of fouled-up shifts.

"But it felt like we had a lot of defensive-zone starts, and since the attacking center goes last, he always has the advantage," Parise said. "That's not a knock on [Granlund]. Kesler's just good on draws, but it felt like the first 20 seconds of a lot of our shifts were spent in our own zone. And when got out, we didn't get through to the offensive zone cleanly or with speed. That'll change."

Despite not being on the ice for Wednesday's first practice, new Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella didn't go on the ice Thursday morning and threw an optional pregame skate.

"I'm not a big believer in morning skates," he said. "If we're going to play with the aggressive style and energy we want to play with, I'm just not a big believer. I think it hurts you sometimes more than it helps you."

The Wild reunited its original defense pairs from the start of the season. That meant after being shuffled in California, Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba were a tandem, as were Marco Scandella and Christian Folin.

Dumba was taken off the power play and replaced with Scandella.

• Nino Niederreiter, who left Tuesday's practice early with lower-body tightness, played and scored a second-period goal.

• Defenseman Nate Prosser was scratched for the fifth time in six games.

• Unofficially retired defenseman Jordan Leopold visited with two of his former teams Thursday.