Banged-up Wild face Stanley Cup champions at … the perfect time?

The Wild have five regulars injured, including their starting goaltender and one of their best forwards and defensemen, but now might be the perfect time for them to go toe-to-toe with the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

Really.

Their 5-1 dismissal of the Panthers on Oct. 22 still ranks as their statement victory of the season, a by-the-book clinic that showed how sharp the Wild can be when they execute their style to a T, and getting back to their identity is exactly what the Wild need after an uneven, ho-hum week-plus in which they rotated wins and losses.

“That was definitely one of our better games of the year,” defenseman Brock Faber recalled. “When we’re good, we’re a hard team to play against. But when we’re like that, we’re a really hard team to play against. That was a really big win for us.

“I feel like it started us off on the right direction, on the right foot.”

Nearly two months later, that effort is still the standard because of how precise the Wild were.

They were machine-like in how they operated all over the ice, from their offense to the defense. Although their 22 shots are among their fewest in a game this season, they capitalized at a mind-boggling efficiency, going 1-for-3, 2-for-4, 3-for-7, 4-for-13 and 5-for-14. They didn’t commit a single penalty, keeping Florida’s premier players out of a power-play setup, and they were stingy in front of goalie Filip Gustavsson: He had to face only one high-danger scoring chance in the third period.

“If we play to our structure, play the way we’re supposed to be playing,” Faber said, “we have a chance to win every night.”

But the team that creamed the Panthers won’t be in action on Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center for the rematch.

For starters, Gustavsson isn’t playing, as the Wild are trying to get a clearer picture of his lower-body ailment that coach John Hynes still believes for now is a minor issue.

“Sad to hear about Gus,” said Marc-Andre Fleury, who is scheduled to start in Gustavsson’s absence. “Hopefully things aren’t too bad for too long for him.”

This will be Fleury’s third appearance in four games, the busiest he’s been this season.

“If I can give the team a chance to win when I’m in there, I think that’s all that I want,” Fleury said. “Obviously, winning is always the goal.”

Hynes wasn’t sure if Yakov Trenin would be ready to return after the winger practiced on Tuesday at Tria Rink in St. Paul in a noncontact jersey.

Trenin sat out the past two games with an upper-body injury, and the Wild recalled forward Brendan Gaunce from the minors after sending Reese Johnson to Iowa on Monday. Devin Shore cleared waivers and remained with the team, which is also missing winger Jakub Lauko (lower body) and Joel Eriksson Ek. The center, who is also dealing with a lower-body injury, has resumed skating. Defenseman Jake Middleton (upper body) is sidelined long-term.

Since Eriksson Ek has been out, the Wild are 3-3 for their most up-and-down stretch yet.

They had no trouble against lesser opponents in Anaheim and Philadelphia but barely outlasted upstart Utah. Their three toughest matchups were defeats, including a 7-1 shellacking by Edmonton last Thursday in their worst performance.

During this stretch, their penalty kill is a grisly 60%, with the unit giving up a game-winner and three tying goals. Their .386 faceoff win percentage overall while shorthanded is third-to-last in the NHL, and the PK was emphasized during Tuesday’s practice.

“We need to coach them better,” Hynes said, “and we need to execute better.”

The PK, like the team, isn’t at full strength, but the Wild’s challenge is still to play like themselves even if they don’t look like themselves.

Faber believes they can.

“I think so,” he said. “Guys go down. Guys step up. That’s how it is.”

Xcel Energy Center, 8:30 p.m. Wednesday

TV; radio: FanDuel Sports Network North, TNT (not available locally); 100.3 FM

Panthers update: The defending Stanley Cup champions are coming off a slump-busting win over the Oilers on Monday night that saw the Panthers erupt for six goals after getting shut out in consecutive games. Overall, they’ve won three of their past five and are 7-2-1 through their past 10. Leading the way is RW Sam Reinhart, whose team-high 20 goals rank him among NHL leaders. Reinhart has the most shorthanded goals in the league with four, and Florida’s eight are also tops in the NHL. This is the Panthers’ last stop on a five-game trip, and they’re 10-6-1 on the road.

Injuries: Wild C Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), G Filip Gustavsson (lower body), LW Jakub Lauko (lower body) and D Jake Middleton (upper body) are out. RW Yakov Trenin (upper body) is questionable. Panthers C Aleksander Barkov (illness) is day to day.