Empty thoughts on the Penguins’ 5-4 shootout loss to the Wild.

The story of this game should have been Kasperi Kapanen.

It was a marvelous story. But there was a twist of an ending that M. Night Shyamalan would have thought was too bizarre.

The Penguins gave up two goals in five-on-six sequences within the final 3 minutes, 19 seconds of regulation and lost the game.

The game story focuses on those failings.

As for Kapanen, his individual game should not be overlooked, even though it will be.

After struggling for weeks, he broke through in a major way by recording his first career hat trick.

And the first two goals he scored weren’t junky rebounds or odd deflections off a leg (this third one was). They were really nice goals that required high-end talent.

On the first, he was all alone in front and deked Wild goaltender Cam Talbot out of his undergarments.

With the second, he just clapped a one-timer that toasted Talbot’s blocker on the far side.

And the third was a lucky bounce off a post and the right thigh of former Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski.

Kapanen wasn’t in any mood to celebrate given the final outcome but he lauded his linemates, Evan Rodrigues and Jason Zucker, for their role in his success.

“All my goals tonight, I’ve got to thank everybody on the ice in helping me out and making great plays for me,” Kapanen said. “That first one, (Zucker) threw it in front of the net and I was by myself. To be honest, I didn’t think it was going in at first. A good feeling that it went in.”

Kapanen is something of a free spirit. He kind of stands out on a team full of players who are button-down and fully enveloped in the culture coach Mike Sullivan has created here. That’s not to say Kapanen refuses to conform. He’s definitely part of the herd. He just happens to be this herd’s black sheep.

During media availability on Wednesday, he wore a Bugs Bunny t-shirt and a toque perched very high atop his head.

He’s got his own way about him.

That said, don’t mistake his eccentric nature for a lack of giving-a-you-know-what. He cares. He absolutely does.

Last week, in the midst of his season-opening slump, Kapanen missed a shot on a power-play drill and screamed a four-letter word you won’t find in a Finnish dictionary out of aggravation. His struggles were clearly eating at him.

“It’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Kapanen said on Wednesday. “There have been some good games and some not-so-good games. I really don’t know what else to tell you right now. It’s just not bouncing for me. My work ethic and other stuff away from the puck has to get better for me to get more chances and hopefully, eventually it will bounce in. I’ve just got to keep going to the net. Maybe it will go off my skate or something. Tough times right now. But there’s still plenty of hockey left.”

Kapanen showed off some really good hockey on Saturday.

“Obviously, it’s a huge game for (Kapanen) tonight,” assistant coach Todd Reirden said. “Unfortunately, for us to score four goals and not leave with a win is disappointing, especially when a guy has a hat trick like that. I’m just happy to see that he’s put his work in. … Just taking advantage of those situations and not losing faith in himself and having belief in what he’s doing, I was really happy to see him get rewarded tonight.”

Statistically speaking

• The Wild had a 40-39 edge in shots.

• Penguins forward Bryan Rust, as well as Wild forward Ryan Hartman and defenseman Jared Spurgeon, each led the game with six shots.

• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang led the game with 29:19 of ice time on 27 shifts.

(Note: During Thursday’s 3-2 overtime home win against the Philadelphia Flyers, Letang had 28:54 of ice time on 30 shifts. Keep in mind, that was his first game after being released from protocol after coming down with covid-19. Letang admitted he had some conditioning issues after his bout with the virus. Yet, he has logged nearly a half-hour of ice time in each of his two most recent games.)

• Defenseman Jonas Brodin led the Wild with 25:11 of ice time on 24 shifts.

• The Wild had a 34-33 edge in faceoffs (51%).

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter was 15 for 23 (65%).

• Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek was 14 for 26 (54%).

• Letang, Penguins defenseman John Marino and Goligoski each led the game with three blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• This was the second consecutive game the Penguins have surrendered a lead late in regulation. It’s hard to say if it’s a trend. It kind of feels like two distinctly different games with two different sets of circumstances. But it’s clearly an all too common result the Penguins would be wise to nip in the bud.

• As for this game specifically, the Wild’s final two goals were each scored with Talbot pulled for an extra attacker. The Wild took advantage of the extra attacker by just collapsing around the Penguins’ net and creating all kinds of havoc. It’s hard to say the Wild’s approach was calculated. It was more chaotic. And it worked.

• Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry wasn’t awful. He wasn’t good. He was adequate. He actually stole a few goals in this game. But making one extra save in regulation, especially on the Wild’s third goal, would have made anyone with a rooting interest in the Penguins a lot happier.

• Shootouts are kind of a crapshoot but Jarry hasn’t been very good in that area of the game this season. He has allowed five goals on seven shots this season.

• The Penguins’ issues on defense — namely, the absences of Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel due to covid-19 protocols — really manifested themselves in this game. At least in how the Penguins deployed their defenseman.

In addition to Letang logging a calendar’s worth of ice time, Mike Matheson (24:27) and John Marino (23:15) each clocked some major minutes. In contrast, P.O Joseph (17:32), Mark Friedman (14:00) and Juuso Riikola (12:45) were really sheltered in a lot of situations.

Obviously, the covid-19 issues are kind of out of the coaches’ hands right now, but finding a way to spread the minutes — provided the lower-end defensemen can earn them — would be helpful.

• The Wild’s last goal came after Penguins forward Teddy Blueger lost a faceoff, clean, to Hartman in the Penguins’ right circle. That result was something of a departure from an otherwise strong season for Blueger in the faceoff circle. Having been below 50% percent in faceoffs throughout his career before this season, Blueger has put in hours of work to improve his draws and is converting at 56.1% (87 for 155) this season.

It was just a bad moment for one of the team’s most reliable players.

• Also of note for Blueger, he took his first penalty of the season on Saturday.

• Rust was back in the lineup after being sidelined since Oct. 14 due to an undisclosed injury. He looked pretty sharp to the naked eye. He really used his trademark speed to create some chances. Logging 18:08 of ice time on 21 shifts, Rust recorded two assists.

• Zucker plays hard every game. For all his inconsistency since joining the Penguins, he never comes up short on effort. But he certainly seemed to have an extra gear in this game considering the opponent. He spent some good years in Minnesota and still lives in that state. He was going.

That said, he had a chance to win in overtime with a breakaway but couldn’t figure out Talbot.

• With Rust back, Danton Heinen, who is the Penguins’ leading scorer with seven points (four goals, three assists), was bumped to the fourth line and logged a team-low 9:54 of ice time on 15 shifts.

• Rodrigues had an awkward moment in the second period when a Wild player’s stick got stuck between his helmet and visor. Wild defenseman Matthew Dumba tried to “help” Rodrigues remove but to less than satisfactory results:

• This was this author’s first chance to see star Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov in person and he was a treat. He just looked like a threat every time he had the puck.

A native of Russia, he’s still figuring things out on and off the ice in North America, but the second-year NHLer is off to a great start to his career.

• Spurgeon was just about everywhere on the ice for the Wild. He does a little bit of everything for this team.

• Goligoski had kind of an up-and-down night, which might have been expected since he was coming off an undisclosed injury. Regardless, he has played in 931 games throughout his career and looks like he could easily get to 1,000. He’s carved out a really nice career ever since he was drafted in the second round by the Penguins in 2004.

• The Mars Area High School hockey team attended the game as guests of the Penguins.

Their goaltender was recently subjected to some vile chants from the invertebrate community of Armstrong County.

So many have rallied around this resolute young lady, and she seems to have taken everything in stride. Regardless, nothing like this should ever happen.

Historically speaking

• Kapanen’s first career hat trick was also the Penguins’ first hat trick ever against the Wild.

Their last hat trick against a Minnesota-based team was by another flamboyant winger, Robbie Brown, in a defensive struggle the Penguins won against the North Stars, 8-6, at the Civic Arena on March 4, 1990.

• The Wild remains one of three active franchises the Penguins have never shut out. The Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken, whom the Penguins have yet to play, are the others.

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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