What worked in the past doesn't always hold up in the present.
Case in point: the Wild's opening-night performance.
Last season's team had a knack for rallying, especially late, and outscoring its defensive mistakes, the combo that led to the most wins in franchise history.
But neither happened on Thursday, and the Wild were exposed 7-3 by the Rangers in front of 18,612 at Xcel Energy Center to temper the early enthusiasm from the team cruising through training camp with six victories in seven preseason games.
"It's a good slap in the face," goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "We just gotta get up and get back here for the next one."
After a three-goal first period, New York responded to a failed 5-on-3 by the Wild in the second with the eventual game-winner from Filip Chytil before a back-and-forth third period that revealed just how flimsy the Wild were in their own end.
"Checking, missing checks, everything," coach Dean Evason said. "Our complete defensive game was awful."
Artemi Panarin, who racked up four points, picked the puck off Kirill Kaprizov to set up Vincent Trocheck for a one-timer at 4 minutes, 18 seconds. Then 30 seconds after Matt Boldy converted on a backhander at 5:16, Kappo Kakko wove through the Wild before dumping the puck five-hole on Fleury. Boldy capped off three goals in three shifts 34 seconds later for his third career multigoal game before Chris Kreider wrapped up the scoring at 14:07 with a deflection.
"I'd give them back in a heartbeat," Boldy said. "We just got blown out of the rink."
The Wild's strengths of the past few weeks, like the penalty kill and power play, were tested early and struggled against a Stanley Cup contender in the Rangers, who won their season opener two nights earlier.
Kreider capitalized on the power play 4:06 into the first period, finishing off a slick passing play with a backdoor tap-in. That lead ballooned to three by the end of the first, with Adam Fox scoring at 16:03 before Panarin flicked in a shot at 19:47.
"Our entire team was fighting it," Evason said.
After blanking on their first power play, the Wild converted on try No. 2 at 7:45 of the second, a one-timer from Mats Zuccarello set up by — who else? — Kaprizov.
Then came a plump opportunity to trim the deficit to one, a 5-on-3 for 1:22. But the Wild whiffed and with 3:06 to go in the second, Chytil put back a rebound that kept the Wild at bay for good.
"The goal would have been great, but a momentum shift would have been better," Evason said.
Overall, the power play went 1-for-4 and the penalty kill 4-for-5 with Evason calling the penalties the Wild committed "stupid."
Fleury ended up making 28 saves, and Igor Shesterkin had 33 for New York.
"I still feel like I should have made more saves and give my team a chance," Fleury said.
The Wild won't have much time to figure out how to clean up their defensive zone. Next up is a reunion on Saturday with the Wild's second-best scorer last season, Kevin Fiala, who was traded in the offseason to Los Angeles, his departure another example of how the Wild have evolved.
"It's Game 1," Boldy said. "We've got 81 more to go, so we've got to find our identity for sure. But it's definitely not panic button, for sure. We've got really good players in here and just gonna come ready to play next game."
