This isn't the first time the Wild haven't played like they're supposed to play.

But the more identity crises they have, the costlier they get. And the latest was a doozy.

The Wild weren't even the Wild, let alone their best version, in a 7-3 meltdown in Dallas on Wednesday in Game 2 of a first-round Stanley Cup series.

In getting pelted for the most goals ever scored against them in a playoff game, the Wild squandered the chance to lead 2-0 and instead are 1-1 without momentum.

To pry that away from the Stars, they'll have to downgrade their Game 2 blunder from holdup to hiccup when the series shifts to St. Paul on Friday.

"You've got to forget this game as quick as possible, and I think this team is good at that," Mats Zuccarello said. "This was not our best and we know it, and we've got to come ready to play."

After eking out a well-earned double-overtime 3-2 win in Game 1 with the diligent defense and opportunistic offense combination that unlocked their success all season long, the Wild got sucked into what works for Dallas and that code didn't click for them.

"They're such polar-opposite games," coach Dean Evason said. "Game 1 is how we want to play. Game 2 is how they want to play."

The Stars broke loose from the tight-checking style that so suited the Wild on Monday night/early Tuesday, and it was their third-best penalty kill and top-five power play that led the revolt.

Dallas capitalized once shorthanded and three times on the power play in Game 2 to put an exclamation point on their edge in the special-teams showdown: The Stars are 5-for-11 on the power play and 7-for-9 on the penalty kill.

"That game was way too open for us to play in," Evason said, "and it bit us."

Roope Hintz's hat trick included two breakaways, the first a shorthanded goal off a Kirill Kaprizov turnover that was the first puck goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury faced after the Wild tabbed him to replace Filip Gustavsson following Gustavsson's 51-save victory in Game 1.

"Not the start I wanted giving up the first goal on the first shot," said Fleury, who was making his first start in eight days. "It doesn't matter how many days it's been. I've got to figure it out. I've played this game for a while now and had some good practices prior to that. That shouldn't have happened."

Jamie Benn's power play marker also came off the rush and so did the next goal, Evgenii Dadonov's game-winner the culmination of a 3-on-2 surge by the Stars.

"A team like Dallas thrives on that stuff," Jake Middleton said.

Although the Wild twice reduced their deficit to a goal, getting to 2-1 and 4-3, they never stopped fueling the Stars' transition game enough to shrink the ice to the small battles they won consistently earlier in the series.

And the longer the action remained a track meet, the more Dallas lapped the Wild.

"It was more us that didn't play like we wanted to play," Zuccarello said. "Giveaways, myself included, the whole team, we gave away too many chances, gave away too many pucks. You've got to give them credit, but I don't think we came up to our standards in the way we wanted to play."

Resetting is nothing new for the Wild.

They've had to get back to basics plenty of times before, after a wobbly start to the season, following the pre- and post-All-Star break lulls and even a few weeks ago when they stumbled after clinching a playoff berth.

The only difference now is the time to pull off a turnaround is much shorter.

"We've bounced back," Middleton said. "It's been ebbs and flows all year for us, and we've always kind of come out on top and that's what we're looking to do going forward here."