CALGARY, ALBERTA – This time last year, the Minnesota Wild were starting over.

Coach John Hynes arrived 20 games into what ended up being an unsalvageable but still significant season: While the Wild never caught up to a playoff spot, they were laying the groundwork for a transformation that finally sunk in during training camp and has continued to click ever since.

Now, after a very different 20 games, the Wild are the second-best team in the NHL.

Without an injured Kirill Kaprizov, the Wild picked up a point from a 4-3 shootout loss to the Flames on Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Saddledome to finish their road trip 2-0-1.

Calgary’s Justin Kirkland and Rasmus Andersson scored in the five-round shootout after the Wild’s Marco Rossi delivered the equalizer with 34 seconds left in the third period to continue a Wild comeback that lacked their best player.

Kaprizov didn’t suit up after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Edmonton’s Drake Caggiula in the Wild’s 5-3 victory on Thursday, a collision that knocked Kaprizov out of that game briefly before he returned.

This was the first game Kaprizov sat out after the best start in his NHL career; his 34 points through 19 games were tied for the league lead going into Saturday.

Marat Khusnutdinov didn’t play either, also due to a lower-body injury, so the Wild tabbed Travis Boyd to make his team debut alongside his Iowa Wild teammates Devin Shore and Ben Jones.

After a deflection by Calgary’s Kevin Rooney 15 minutes into the first period put the Wild behind first for only the seventh time this season, they responded just 1:03 later when Marcus Johansson one-timed a 2-on-1 pass from Matt Boldy for Johansson’s second goal in as many games; Boldy’s six-game point streak is a season high.

The Flames retook the lead with 31 seconds left in the second period on a redirect by Martin Pospisil during Calgary’s first power play. Jakub Lauko was in the box for a questionable goalie interference penalty.

Then the Flames doubled their lead again on the power play, this time courtesy a Yegor Sharangovich shot 3:53 into the third.

Finally, Brock Faber converted with 3:59 to go in the third period; that was the Wild’s only fourth power play goal in 33 chances over the past 12 games.

Then with goalie Filip Gustavsson on the bench for an extra attacker, Rossi extended the action.

Gustavsson had 28 saves, while Dan Vladar had 20 for Calgary.

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