MINNEAPOLIS — The Wild's slump-busting victory over the weekend turned out to be a one-off rather than a fresh start.
After ending their three-game skid, the Wild were sent back to Square 1 on Monday when they were upended 2-1 in a shootout by the Panthers in front of an announced 17,453 at Xcel Energy Center to drop their fourth game out of the last five and seventh in 10.
Still, the Wild (61 points) held onto the last wild-card seat in the Western Conference. Their next test is a key Central Division battle on Wednesday vs. the reigning Stanley Cup champion Avalanche.
Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau were all denied during the Wild's second straight shootout, while Florida's Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov capitalized to end a nearly game-long stalemate that evolved into a goaltending showdown.
Sergei Bobrovsky, who was injured when the Panthers downed the Wild 5-3 last month at home, was sharp during a 27-save performance. So was Filip Gustavsson, actually, his 33 stops through regulation counting as the 15th time in 21 starts he's limited the opposition to two goals or less.
But with the Wild's offense still spotty, the team didn't provide him with enough run support to outduel Bobrovsky.
Between the two, Gustavsson was much busier in the first period, a whopping 18 shots aimed at his crease in the first period. Gustavsson, who was in net on Saturday when the Wild outlasted the Devils 3-2 in a shootout, fended off all of those pucks, but Florida capitalized — when else? — in the second.
A Gustav Forsling point shot was tipped in by Eetu Luostarinen at 2:06, the 19th goal surrendered by the Wild in the middle frame since Jan. 19; that's the most in the NHL. They've potted 10 in the second in that span after Kaprizov tallied the equalizer at 5:15.
Kaprizov scored from a tight angle inside the left circle, the top-shelf shot ringing up as his team-leading 30th goal of the season. He's only the third player in Wild history to post consecutive 30-goal campaigns, joining Marian Gaborik and Brian Rolston.
Calen Addison's assist was his 31st point of the season, lifting him by Filip Kuba for the most career points by a Wild rookie defenseman; Kuba held that record since the Wild's inaugural 2000-01 season.
The Wild had plenty of chances to move ahead of the Panthers the rest of the period: Connor Dewar had a shorthanded breakaway stay out, while Matt Boldy was also stopped on a breakaway and had a shot sail wide on a power play.
Their offense, however, was short a player.
Marcus Foligno left in the second after a shot block against Forsling hit Foligno's left knee and knocked him down. Foligno had to be helped off the ice and did not return.
Overall, the Wild went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, a rare off-night for the power play that's been vital to the offense while its 5-on-5 production has dipped. Florida was 0-for-7; the Panthers did score on an abbreviated 5-on-3, but the goal was immediately called off due to goaltender interference.
Later in the third period, the Wild had their own close call when a puck from Jake Middleton smacked into the post.
