Defensive lapses, offensive collapses cost Wild in 4-1 loss to Rangers

NEW YORK — Brock Faber watched the replay on the bench hoping to see something different.

But he didn't.

"It was just stupid, plain and simple," Faber said.

The pinch he made in the third period flipped a tie into a 4-1 runaway win for the Rangers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden that snapped the Wild's short-lived two-game surge before their road trip concludes on Friday at Buffalo.

"It was a complete lack of judgment that cost us," Faber said. "If I don't jump there, I feel like it's a game we're walking out with smiles on our faces."

After the Wild atoned for another sluggish start by dominating the second period to shed their early deficit, Faber skated deeper into the offensive zone to contest for a deflected puck, but the Rangers' Vincent Trocheck swatted it away to ignite a 3-on-1 rush the other direction that ended in the Wild's net off the stick of Alexis Lafreniere just 1 minute, 41 seconds into the third.

"Obviously, my mistake cost us there," Faber said. "You just hate that, right? That's the game we play, and unfortunately there's highs and lows. Me personally, I'm just focused on doing what I can for them tomorrow.

"I take full responsibility for that, and I feel like too many times this season I have had a little lapse in judgement like that."

Coach Dean Evason praised Faber for taking accountability while also pointing out that the puck caromed off a skate.

"It was an aggressive read," Evason said. "We got hurt by it. Nine times out of 10 that puck spits to him, and he's got an offensive opportunity out of it. But we get a bad bounce."

The Rangers scored twice in the aftermath, a goal from Blake Wheeler (14:39) on the team's only power play and an empty-netter from Artemi Panarin (18:39), but momentum shifted on the tiebreaker.

Still, the Wild didn't need to be facing that paper-thin margin of error if they A) played better in the first period or B) squeezed more production out of the second.

In the first, Louis Domingue — the Rangers' third-string goalie playing for the injured Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick — was tested only twice while Wild struggled to enter the offensive zone, let alone maintain possession and deploy pressure.

As a result, the Rangers had the puck through the period and took advantage at 3:56 when a botched clear by the Wild was buried by Trocheck.

If not for Fleury's 13 saves in the period, the Wild would have had a steeper hill to climb. Their 21 goals-against in the first are the most in the NHL.

"He gives us an opportunity to win every night," Brandon Duhaime said of Fleury, whose 24-save performance moved him up to 25,808 career stops and past Patrick Roy for the third most all-time. "We gotta be better for him up front."

Fleury earned a reprieve in the second when he and Domingue (25 saves overall) swapped workloads.

Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Pat Maroon established a forecheck on the Wild's first shift of the second period, a preview of what was to come as the Wild went on a 9-0 run in shots and eventually capitalized when Duhaime tipped in Faber's shot at 12:33 after the Wild's lone unsuccessful power play.

"That's our brand of hockey, being hard," Duhaime said, "and I think that Eriksson Ek line really sets the tone for us there where you see what they're doing, going corner to corner, and really spreading out that O-zone, and they're getting bodies to the net and pucks to the net."

Overall, the Wild racked up 15 shots in the period but only one goal, setting themselves up for a situation where one miscue sways the outcome.

"We gotta make sure we put in consistent effort, good play like we did in the second," Fleury said. "Make it consistent for three periods, and your odds will be better."