A two-game slump for the Wild a year ago was a sign of progress.

Now, it's their worst skid of the season.

The Wild went an impressive 31 games without losing two in a row in regulation, the last holdout in the NHL. But their invincibility cracked on Wednesday night when they were trounced 6-1 by the Stanley Cup champion Panthers at Xcel Energy Center and in front of a nationally televised audience.

They dropped to 20-8-4, still one of the best records in the league. But next to a 3-2 blip last Sunday to another contender in the Golden Knights and with only two wins in their last six games, the Wild are in their first official rut while playing without five regulars who could help them climb out of it.

"No season is perfect, right?" goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "Right now, we're seeing a little adversity, and we've gotta find a way out of it and get back on the right track here."

Florida's Matthew Tkachuk capitalized twice in the second period, including on the power play, to exacerbate the Wild's plight, which was already complicated by an overturned goal, fluky turnover and unpenalized elbow.

Trailing only 2-1 once a successful challenge called back an Aleksander Barkov goal for being scored after the Panthers were offside, the Wild couldn't close the gap and instead had their deficit doubled for good when Tkachuk whacked in a deflected puck off Barkov with 4 minutes, 32 seconds to go in the second period.

Tkachuk collided with Fleury in the aftermath, teeing off a shoving match that led to Tkachuk and Ryan Hartman getting penalized for roughing.

After he exited the penalty box, Tkachuk widened Florida's lead on its first of two power plays at 18:54, burying a loose puck.

"We made a couple of critical errors late in the second, and they scored on those," Wild coach John Hynes said. "Then in the third, we had a little bit of a push but not much, and I think you start forcing things and they're checking well and we didn't generate much."

The Panthers continued their rout on a Niko Mikkola wind-up that slipped through Fleury at 11:10 of the third before a puck struck Brock Faber up high and Eetu Luostarinen pounced on the rebound with 30 seconds remaining.

Faber, who quickly exited the ice after he was hit, was still getting evaluated after the game.

Already, the Wild are without No.1 goalie Filip Gustavsson, top center Joel Eriksson Ek, first-pairing defenseman Jake Middleton and bottom-six forwards Yakov Trenin and Jakub Lauko due to injury, and the patchwork team in action in their absence lacked the execution that allowed the Wild to crush Florida 5-1 on Oct. 22.

"The guys that we have out we obviously really miss, and they're huge parts of our team," veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian said. "But what we're trying to do here is build a culture and continue to have that winning mindset. Whoever is in the lineup that night needs to understand what job we have to do. That's part of being a good culture, winning culture. We have that. We believe in everyone in this room."

Just 3:48 into the first period, Aaron Ekblad drained a shot from the right side during a scrambly start by the Wild.

Kirill Kaprizov appeared to answer back on a tip, but the Panthers challenged for goalie interference and the goal was disallowed because Marco Rossi bumped into Sergei Bobrovsky prior to Kaprizov's redirect. It would have been his 23rd goal to tie the Oilers' Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead.

After a lengthy video review, the NHL's situation room determined Rossi affected Bobrovsky's ability to play their position; Bobrovsky was square to the redirect but reacted awkwardly to the puck.

"It's tough," Rossi said. "For me, I don't really focus on where the goalie is. I just try to get in front, and he plays big. We know, like his hands are always out. So, yeah, it goes so quick. I don't know."

Rossi stayed around the net and delivered the tying goal on the power play (1-for-2) with 3:49 remaining in the first when he picked up the puck in front and backhanded it by Bobrovsky for his 12th goal and ninth point over his last 10 games.

But Florida quickly reclaimed momentum: After an outlet pass was bobbled by the Wild's Ben Jones, the Panthers went the other way and Mackie Samoskevich converted off the rush with 1:46 left in the first period.

Still, after the Wild's third successful challenge in three tries, they were only one shot away from pulling even.

But Tkachuk's first of two goals was a turning point, and the Wild didn't catch any breaks. An elbow from Ekblad on Kaprizov went uncalled, and a slash by Matt Boldy against A.J. Greer sent Greer's stick flying for a can't-miss penalty that Tkachuk used to pad Florida's advantage.

Fleury finished with 27 saves in his 1,004th start that passed Patrick Roy for third all-time. Bobrovsky had 26 after the Wild chased him from the game in their previous two matchups.

"We know we have to step up," Rossi said. "The puck bounces are not going our way right now, but we just have to keep going."

Going two games without collecting any points is significant because of how much success the Wild have had: This is the standard they've set almost halfway through their season.

But is it fair to hold them to those expectations when they're not currently the team that accomplished them in the first place?

They believe so.

Now they just have to prove they can perform like their earlier version, beginning Friday vs. Utah Hockey Club.

"We have capable players," Hynes said. "We need some guys to step up, that's for sure. We need a complete team effort with everybody playing to their max capabilities, and then you play with strong structure. Right now, we gotta get a team to play at max capacity on Friday night.

"That's how we're going to win the game, and that's what the focus is."