“In the second, we got out-skated,” Hynes said. “We got outcompeted. We didn’t win a lot of faceoffs. I think we never started with the puck, and our execution wasn’t great. I think we fed their momentum, and they were the better team in the second half of the game.”

The Wild’s lull arrived later than usual, in the second period rather than the first, but it stung just the same.

If they had more to show from the control they had early, perhaps taking advantage of one or both of those power plays, they might have avoided Pittsburgh’s takeover in the second. At the minimum, they would have been better prepared for it.

Instead, after picking up a point in their last two hard-fought overtime losses, this performance feels like a missed opportunity that again spotlights the Wild’s biggest issue 12 games in, and that’s their inconsistency.

“Why did we get out-skated?” Hynes said. “Why did we win a lot of faceoffs in the first period and then we didn’t win any faceoffs in the second half? Typical little things. We lose the faceoff, and then you have the box-out.

“It’s not about being fragile. It’s about doing the right things. It’s about having some toughness to you and digging in [and] understanding when we’re in those situations that they matter.”