Wild earns point the hard way, aims to find its game earlier

ST. PAUL -- It's not unusual to see three or four goals scored with the extra attacker all season.
It's quite rare to see it happen three times in one week.
The Wild was on the short end of such a scramble again on Saturday, losing a late lead against the Carolina Hurricanes before losing in overtime 5-4 at Xcel Energy Center.

This time of year, any point is a good one, and with the way the Wild played for much of the early evening, it was probably lucky to get the one it did.
Carolina outshot the Wild by a 57-23 margin, with the 57 shots equalling a franchise record for Minnesota ... not in a good way.
"In a realistic world, you're happy you got a point out of that," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "If it wasn't for Devan Dubnyk. He's been our No.1 star in all four games that he's played."
"Should we have won when we were in the position of winning those two games when they pulled the goalie and scored an extra goal? Yeah. We probably shouldn't have been in that position to start off with."
Dubnyk equalled a personal best with 52 saves, finishing one shy of Dwayne Roloson's team record. Halfway through the game, it was apparent Dubnyk would have a chance to approach the mark, as Carolina peppered the veteran netminder with 20 shots in the first period and 16 more in the second.
Minnesota had just nine shots through 40 minutes, but thanks to Dubnyk and a power-play goal by Charlie Coyle, the Wild was within one shot of the Canes heading to the third period.
What had been a tight game, at least in terms of scoring, got a whole bunch more loose in the third, as the teams went back and forth with five total goals. Jared Spurgeon and Jason Zucker tallied markers 4:21 apart early in the period to give Minnesota its first lead.
Sebastian Aho countered with his first goal of the game four minutes later before Mikael Granlund scored his first of the game with just over four minutes remaining.
Justin Williams scored with 68 seconds left on the clock before Aho ripped his second of the game past Dubnyk 2:57 into overtime.
But considering the way the Wild played for the better part of 40 minutes, even earning a point was an accomplishment.
The slow starts have been a trend for Minnesota early in the season, an issue that plagued the group even going back to the exhibition season.

"It should be concerning," said Wild forward Zach Parise. "One game is one game, but I think you're starting to see a little bit of a pattern now. So, it should be pretty alarming."
The key for the Wild will be finding a why it has been haunted by sluggish beginnings. Opponents have scored first in three of the first four games.
"I don't know. We've got to figure that out though," Parise said. "I don't know. It's almost as if we're surprised by teams that are fast. It's like we're not ready for it or whatnot. Man, they were all over us right away and we couldn't even connect a pass getting up the ice. Not very pretty."
With a veteran core, however, Minnesota should have a leg up on righting the ship. This group has been through patches like this before and managed to turn things around.
Just four games into the season, there's still plenty of hockey to be played. And most importantly, the Wild has found a way to earn points and stay afloat despite not playing its best game yet.
"I think we're all proud in here and we all know how good we can be, so we have just got to figure it out. The nice thing is we know we can play, so we've just got to figure it out ourselves," Dubnyk said. "We know we have a great group in here, so that's nice, at least. We're a proud group in here I think we all agree we can be better.
"I've said over and over, it's so enjoyable to play with this group. It doesn't matter how the game is going, what's happening I know if I just stay in there and make the next stop, whatever one it is, I know at some point we're going to make a push to get back in. It's rewarding, when the guys fight like that in the third period and score a few goals, it makes it worth it. That's what allows you to continue to drive, is that at some point we're going to come with a push and start going our way."
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