ST. PAUL, Minn. — Overtime Sunday night at Grand Casino Arena featured the puck on a Minnesota Wild player’s stick for roughly 3 minutes and 40 seconds with two San Jose Sharks players stuck out on the ice for the entirety of the 3:47 overtime.

And still, the Wild ended up losing.

That’s just how this ugly 10-game start to the season has been for the 3-6-1 Wild, losers of six of the last seven games.

Against a rebuilding yet up-and-coming team Minnesota has had its way with for the last several years, the Wild had to rally from multiple deficits, including a pair of two-goal holes, just to force overtime. Then, despite dancing in the offensive zone for virtually every second of overtime, the Wild managed two shots on goal — both by Brock Faber — before superstar-in-the-making Macklin Celebrini delivered a 6-5 overtime win with a breakaway goal off a shot from 28 feet away that beat Jesper Wallstedt under his right pad.

MACKLIN CELEBRINI WINS IT 🦈

The @SanJoseSharks take it in @Energizer overtime! pic.twitter.com/q4tkGvyfXi

— NHL (@NHL) October 27, 2025

The teenage Celebrini’s three-point game brought a shocking conclusion to an overtime in which Timothy Liljegren and Alex Wennberg didn’t leave the ice for a second.

“I mean, I had probably three Grade-As,” said Faber, who had his first three assists of the season, including on Joel Eriksson Ek’s tying goal with 2:18 left in regulation. “We had other good opportunities, and I think those go in another night. But they didn’t tonight.”

Last season, the Wild went the first seven games without trailing a single second. Now, since a 5-0 win opening night, it feels like the Wild fall behind every single game. They haven’t played with the lead in three games, and on Sunday night against a Sharks team allowing a league-high 4.67 goals and 32.9 shots per game, the Wild had to chase a 2-0 first-period deficit, then gave up two goals in 18 seconds in the second period after rallying back.

“I mean, if you want to try to take something positive out of it, we battled back multiple times from being down by two,” said Ryan Hartman, who had a goal and assist. “Obviously, we’ve got to clean it up. Giving up goals and quick ones after they get one. The next few shifts after a goal or a goal against are some of the most important shifts in the game. You either keep momentum or you kind of start losing momentum. Whether we score or they score, we have to make sure everyone’s next shift is their best shift of the night.”

Marco Rossi also had a goal and assist, Marcus Johansson scored his third goal in two games, Zeev Buium scored a goal and Kirill Kaprizov had three assists. The Wild, 1-2-1 at home, play the third in a six-game homestand Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets.

insane pic.twitter.com/QyHjfUjHFw

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 27, 2025

Kaprizov’s giveaways finally haunt ’em

Kaprizov has no goals this season at five-on-five. At even strength, he has been on the ice for a team-high 13 goals against and gift-wrapped two for the Sharks. In a season where several instances of sustained offensive zone pressure have ended with a Kaprizov turnover, he gave away the puck twice in the defensive zone leading to goals.

The first came in the first period when Kaprizov sloppily threw a puck to the blue line that was picked off by Liljegren. The defenseman then pinched down the left wing wall, juked a lazily stick-checking Kaprizov and set up Michael Misa’s first career goal for a 2-0 lead.

Micahel Misa’s first goal in the NHL!
2-0 #TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/bv2YptNtfj

— JD Young (@MyFryHole) October 26, 2025

Then in the second period after Johansson and Rossi scored 32 seconds apart in the first period to tie the score, Kaprizov coughed up the puck again in the defensive zone, leading to William Eklund’s second goal of the game. Eighteen seconds later, after David Jiricek and Danila Yurov lost a board battle, former Wild enforcer Ryan Reaves made it 4-2.

Eky gettin’ it done! ✅#TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/dq0Ubee16P

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 26, 2025

After helping set up Hartman’s goal in the third period to trim the deficit to 4-3, Kaprizov turned the puck over yet again. That led to Jake Middleton’s penalty and Tyler Toffoli scored to make it 5-3 with seven seconds left in the power play.

“It’s hard,” Kaprizov said. “It sometimes happens. We know, everyone, we should play better and it starts from us, from me especially, and from other guys, too, from whole team. We need to play better. Sometimes happens. We need to be more focused, play more … (the) right way and enjoy the hockey. Now sometimes simple but big mistakes and we need to be better.”

Kaprizov has one empty-net goal in the past six games, although he had the primary assist on three goals Sunday.

“It’s the care of the guys is what you respect about them, but now it’s we got to channel that care and that energy in the right directions and continue to move forward in a positive direction,” coach John Hynes said when asked about Kaprizov’s propensity for turnovers lately.

Wild’s penalty kill actually worse

The Dallas Stars must have broken the Wild in the playoffs three years ago. The Wild actually had a quality penalty kill until giving up nine in their first-round series loss.

The last two years, they finished 30th in the NHL both seasons.

Well, guess what? The Wild’s penalty kill now ranks 31st at 60.9 percent and dead last at home by giving up five goals on nine chances (44.4 percent). They have given up four power-play goals on the last four chances over the past three games, and went 0-for-2 against the Sharks — the last when Jiricek made his latest young mistake by chasing the puck carrier up the wall and leaving his position.

Jiricek was only on the ice because Middleton, another defenseman, was in the box.

“It’s (a lack of) experience of being in that situation,” Hynes said. “It’s understanding the details of it and how those things matter. So I think it’s a work in progress.”

Macklin Celebrini with a siiiilky dish to Tyler Toffoli! 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/S1oINmmM9y

— NHL (@NHL) October 27, 2025

Trenin whiffs and whiffs and whiffs

Yakov Trenin, who signed a four-year, $14 million deal as a free agent July 1, 2024, has followed a poor first season in Minnesota with no goals and two assists in his first 10 games.

Sunday night, one game after an undisciplined penalty 200 feet from his net helped turn the Utah game upside down, Trenin had a golden opportunity to give the Wild a 3-2 lead in the second period after Vinnie Hinostroza’s hustle into the zone. Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais blocked Trenin’s shot for what would have been the go-ahead goal.

But the block came after Trenin completely whiffed on a backdoor tap-in with the net wide open. It was a huge moment in the period: the Wild went from what should have been a one-goal lead into a two-goal deficit later in the period.

Incredible whiff https://t.co/2K6R6J11Hk pic.twitter.com/Ipz8BMMut9

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) October 26, 2025

Hartman avoids injury

Hartman chipped a puck in the third period and then skated into Dmitry Orlov’s right hip as he tried to dangle by. He landed hard on his right leg and needed help off the ice before returning to the game shortly after. The referees called a major penalty so they could review it, then rescinded the penalty when they deemed Orlov didn’t intentionally stick his leg out.

“I just kind of lost feeling, kind of,” Hartman said. “It was more of a charley horse if anything. Kind of hyperextended my knee. I wear a brace on that knee, luckily. Otherwise, I think it would have been a little — a lot worse. My knee hyperextended, but that brace doesn’t allow it to bend back. So I’m glad I continue to wear that.”

After review, there was no penalty on Orlov on this play.

Hartman exited the game. pic.twitter.com/X14T93lCwm

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 27, 2025

Foligno latest Wild injury

Marcus Foligno, who played his best game of the season Saturday night with nine hits and strong play on a line with Hartman and Vladimir Tarasenko, sustained an upper-body injury late in the game against Utah.

Hynes didn’t have a timetable or prognosis yet, but said Foligno got X-rays Sunday. Tyler Pitlick, the only other healthy forward on the roster, joined the fourth line with Ben Jones and Trenin against the Sharks.

Foligno joins forwards Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm and defenseman Zach Bogosian in the injury ward.