John Torchetti’s dreamy start as the Wild’s interim coach came to an abrupt end Tuesday night, his team drawing some boos from a crowd that hasn’t seen the Wild win in St. Paul in 2016.
After the Wild showed ample energy in a much-anticipated outdoor game and after a successful road trip sparked by a coaching change, the team’s four-game winning streak came to a screeching halt in a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders.
A team that was so lively and confident during wins in Torchetti’s first four games fell flat in game No. 5 under the new bench boss.
“We had no pushback tonight or energy,” Torchetti said.
Torchetti’s debut in St. Paul went no better than the Wild’s final home games under former coach Mike Yeo, which ultimately led to his firing.
Tuesday’s was another in a long list of losses at the Xcel Energy Center, dating to Dec. 28, the Wild’s last win on St. Paul ice. The Wild’s only home win of 2016 came on a makeshift ice surface Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium in the their Stadium Series game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Wild have lost nine straight games at the X, where they opened the season 11-4-1. Since then, they are 3-7-3 in St. Paul.
“If we don’t pick it up at home, we probably won’t make it,” Jarret Stoll said. “That’s the honest truth. We’ve got to pick up our home game.”
Torchetti admitted that coaches expected a bit of a letdown entering Tuesday’s game after the pageantry and excitement surrounding the outdoor game ended.
But there was no excuse for how lethargic the Wild’s start was. They trailed 2-0 after the game’s first seven minutes.
When they finally scored, at the end of the second period off the stick of Chris Porter, they reissued the Islanders a two-goal lead early in the third when an Erik Haula penalty turned into a power-play goal for New York.
“That’s obviously not the way you want to start the third,” Porter said. “A little bit of a buzz kill.”
For much of the night, the Wild were outplayed at even strength and were definitely outplayed on special teams.
Against an aggressive, top-ranked Islanders penalty kill, the Wild power play was befuddled and failed to turn any of its five chances into a goal. The Wild’s penalty kill, meanwhile, surrendered a goal on two of New York’s three man advantages.
“We definitely lost the special-teams battle tonight,” Stoll said.
For the first time under Torchetti, the Wild are forced to respond from a loss.
As the Western Conference’s wild-card race tightens, the Wild can ill afford back-to-back losses, and they head back on the road following Tuesday’s loss.
“Just a little bump in the road,” Matt Dumba called it.
But it was a bump where the Wild failed to generate much consistent pressure and struggled many times to simply gain the offensive zone.
“It seemed like every time the puck was going, we were coming,” Torchetti said. “And when it was coming, we were going. We’ve got to do a better job with puck possession.”
The Wild got little production from their top players. The No. 1 line of Mikko Koivu centering Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle generated just five shots on goal.
“Just one of those nights,” Torchetti said of his No. 1 line. “I got them away from a matchup a little bit, but it just wasn’t working. But they’ll bounce back for us.”

Devils down Rangers
Meanwhile, at Prudential Center, right winger Lee Stempniak scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period as the New Jersey Devils defeated the depleted the New York Rangers 5-2. The Rangers were without Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal, two of their top defensemen, due to injury.