NASHVILLE – Wild coach Dean Evason watched back every penalty, concerned by how frequently the team was getting banished to the box.
And although Evason didn't peg the players as being undisciplined or making untimely mistakes, that discovery didn't change the outcome: The Predators dominated the special teams battle en route to a 6-2 romp on Tuesday night in front of 17,244 at Bridgestone Arena that cost the Wild its 10-game point streak despite it registering a franchise-high 49 shots.
"We do need to be better in that area," Evason said, "or else it obviously will hurt us down the stretch here."
This was the Wild's only second regulation loss in its past 12 games, and both came against Nashville. The Wild is still comfortably in second place in the Central Division, seven points ahead of the Predators, but Nashville is now only four back of No. 3 St. Louis. The second and third seeds in the division will face off in Round 1 of the playoffs.
The Predators scored three power-play goals in the first period, and their fourth tally in the second came seconds after a power play expired. Marc-Andre Fleury, in his first loss with the Wild, had 27 saves, and Juuse Saros made 47.
Overall, in three victories this season, Nashville has outscored the Wild 17-6 with its power play going 6-for-13 and the Wild 1-for-14 after capitalizing only once in six tries Tuesday.
"I don't think we took bad penalties," winger Nic Deslauriers said. "There's some you can question, but those are games that special teams makes you win or makes you lose."
Add in four fights, including three in the first 11 minutes, and the Wild struggled to roll its bench and rely on the depth that shined during its recent tear. The team also finished the game shorthanded, with Matt Dumba leaving because of an upper-body injury after leveling a shoulder check in the second period that was penalized as interference.
"Doesn't look good," Evason said.
After the Predators' first power-play goal 5:10 into the first period, a shot from inside the left circle by Roman Josi, Mats Zuccarello erased that deficit when he scored at 13:27 off a Kirill Kaprizov pass. The finish lifted Zuccarello to 70 points, making him the sixth player in Wild history to reach the plateau.
But Nashville ran away after that.
On the next shift after Zuccarello's goal, the Wild was back in the penalty box and Ryan Johansen was left all alone in front of Fleury to direct in a Filip Forsberg feed at 13:52.
Then with 57 seconds left in the first, Johansen tipped in a Josi shot for another power-play marker. The three power-play goals in a period tied a Predators record, the first time they've accomplished the feat since Nov. 18, 2006.
Nashville didn't score on its next power play, awarded after Dumba's interference penalty. But five seconds after the Wild was back at full strength, Rosi set up Philip Tomasino for a one-timer 6:06 into the second.
"You look at all those penalties and some of them are wishy-washy," winger Marcus Foligno said. "Give us one or two back and it's a different game."
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Before the period ended, the Wild did get one goal closer to the Predators with its own power-play tally during a 5-on-3 look after Kaprizov buried his own rebound at 17:51.
The goal was Kaprizov's team-leading 11th on the power play and 40th overall, which is two shy of matching the Wild's single-season record. Zuccarello's assist was his 50th to tie Pierre-Marc Bouchard's record set in 2007-08.
"If we get to three [goals], everything's a different ballgame," Evason said.
Instead, Matt Duchene capitalized off the rush with 6:32 to go in the third before Johansen completed a hat trick into an empty net with seven seconds left.
But the goals that decided the game had already happened.
"We're going to be in playoff situations where there's going to be big penalty kills that need to get the job done," Foligno said. "It's something that we need to perfect and still shape and make sure that we're fine-tuning before playoffs."
