DENVER — The bad news for the Minnesota Wild is that they’re in a 2-0 series hole against a terrific Colorado Avalanche team that has looked every bit like a Stanley Cup favorite in winning its first six games of the playoffs.

The Wild’s special teams are struggling at the absolute worst time. Their second defense pair has been god-awful, with Jake Middleton on for nine goals and Jared Spurgeon for eight in this series, and Jonas Brodin isn’t close to coming in to save them. Matt Boldy is goalless in the first two games of the series — clearly affected by the loss of his center, Joel Eriksson Ek — and the Avalanche are playing him more physically than we’ve ever seen.

The last thing the Wild needed was to fumble one of their few advantages over the Avs coming into the series: stability in net.

The decision to play Filip Gustavsson over Jesper Wallstedt in Game 2 was a flop. The Avalanche scored on their first two shots en route to a 5-2 victory at Ball Arena. And the third goal — the eventual game winner — was soft, plain and simple.

Whether Wallstedt returns in net for Game 3 remains to be seen. He should, probably will, and maybe that was the plan all along.

But judging from Wallstedt’s demeanor Tuesday morning and Gustavsson’s after the Game 2 loss, the Wild now have two ticked-off goalies on their hands, which could have long-term implications for one of them (more on that later).

We get it.

If there was ever a time to go back to Gustavsson, Game 2 was it. Wallstedt had just given up eight goals and played a lot of high-intensity hockey in starting the first seven playoff games. If the premise was to give Wallstedt a mental and physical reset, then go back to him in Game 3, there’s some merit to that — even though there are three off days coming up and the Wild were throwing in a rusty goalie who hadn’t played since April 13.

But it was still a big, big risk.

The Avalanche are an elite team — the best in the NHL. And they’re playing at a very high level. So there’s already very little margin for error, especially without top shutdown center Eriksson Ek and shutdown defenseman Brodin.

So the last thing the Wild needed to do in this series was start overthinking and making a yo-yo out of the goalie position. Fans of this franchise have seen this story before: Starting Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 2 against Dallas in 2023 after Gustavsson’s double overtime gem in Game 1. Shelving Cam Talbot for Fleury in 2022 against St. Louis.

Heck, we’ve even written it as recently as a few weeks ago when making the case that starting Wallstedt against Dallas was a no-brainer.

The Wild had the guts to start Wallstedt in Game 1 of the playoffs, then ride him through the Stars series. Hynes praised his confidence, calmness and mental toughness. Then, at the first sign of trouble, Sunday’s 9-6 loss, the Wild went away from the guy who got them to their first second-round appearance in a decade.

The goalie that Marcus Foligno calls their “future.”

Would Wallstedt have won Game 2? The way the Avalanche are playing, the way the Wild’s special teams are struggling, he might have lost, too. But the decision to start Gustavsson didn’t look good from the start.

Gustavsson looked shaky, which shouldn’t have been surprising considering he hadn’t played in 22 days. He hasn’t had a quality start in a month. How did he feel?

“Just fine,” Gustavsson said. “Nothing special. Not bad, not good.”

Really inspiring stuff from a veteran in whom the Wild invested a five-year, $34 million extension eight months ago.

This is a story for another day, but for a team that was considering trading Wallstedt before the deadline and was, at least before his terrific end of the season and start to the playoffs, again flirting with the idea of doing it in a possible attempt to land a big fish like Auston Matthews or Brady Tkachuk, the Wild have to be very worried about how Gustavsson is handing this.

Hynes went out of his way Tuesday morning to say that Gustavsson was taking the high road and being supportive of Wallstedt.

“He just handled it like a pro, and that was impressive because it’s hard when you’re the veteran goalie and you feel you’ve played well enough to get an opportunity to play and the other guy goes in,” Hynes said. “At that point in time, it could’ve been a little bit of a negative response, but his was, ‘I understand the decision.’”

Gustavsson’s mopey demeanor after Tuesday’s game sure didn’t portray that. He was full of one-word answers and non-answers.

Asked his reaction when he was told he was starting, he said, “Just go out there, stop the puck.”

Asked about giving up two goals on two shots to start the game, he said, “It was OK. It’s always fun to play when it’s a high atmosphere and all that stuff to get you going.”

Asked what this has been like for him, he said, “Yeah, I just wait for my time and cheer the team on, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Asked how hard it was to play for the first time in 22 days in Colorado in a playoff game, he said, “Mentally I felt fine.”

Asked his reaction when Hynes first told him before the Dallas series that he was taking a back seat to Wallstedt, he said, “No, I just wait for him to tell me to play.”

This sound familiar?

Remember when Talbot had to caddy for Fleury the first five playoff games in 2022 despite a 15-game point streak?

He — and his wife, Kelly, on Twitter — talked themselves off the team and ultimately into a trade to the Ottawa Senators, coincidentally, for Gustavsson.

The difference is that Talbot deserved to start that series against the Blues because of the way he played down the stretch. Gustavsson played himself into being the backup. After starting the Olympics as Sweden’s No. 1 and ultimately losing his job and being a healthy scratch in lieu of Jacob Markstrom and Wallstedt, Gustavsson returned from Milan and struggled down the stretch. Wallstedt, meanwhile, finished the season on a high.

There is no doubt after the season that the Wild are going to have to mend fences with Gustavsson, who hasn’t even started his new contract, which carries a full no-move clause in the first two years.

Wallstedt pushed his way into a rotation this season with his strong play and earned the net for the start of these playoffs. Gustavsson needs to accept that and understand he’s the one who made this decision for the Wild coaches with the way he played after the Olympics.

But if Hynes and goalie coach Freddy Chabot watch Gustavsson’s postgame interview — or if Bill Guerin does — there’s no doubt Wallstedt will get the call in Saturday’s Game 3 at Grand Casino Arena.

Wallstedt’s teammates, who understand they have to take the brunt of the blame for the nine goals allowed in Game 1, know he’ll be ready for it.

“He’s been awesome for us,” Boldy said. “You saw what he did in the first round. You’re not going to have your best every night. It’s not on him we didn’t play well enough in front of him. Knowing the person he is, the competitor he is, if he gets the chance to get back in the net, he’s going to do his best to fight and compete and give us a chance.”

This series isn’t over. There’s still a chance for the Wild to get back into it. But they’re going to need a lot more saves. They’re going to need someone who can outplay career journeyman Scott Wedgewood and perhaps steal them a win.

And, right now, that guy is Wallstedt.