Whether it was superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov hanging his head in disbelief, future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury leaving the ice in disgust, or veteran winger Marcus Foligno firing a puck into the boards in frustration, the Wild couldn’t hide their emotions during Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

In desperate need of a win to continue to their playoff push, the Wild fell flat on their face in a 6-0 loss to the Kings.

These are the types of games the Wild (34-28-8, 76 points) will lament if they’re sitting at home next month when the pursuit of the Stanley Cup begins. They had a chance to make a statement on national television with the Vegas Golden Knights (36-25-7, 79 points) sitting idle and they weren’t competitive in the slightest. It was eerily similar to last month when the Wild got manhandled in a 6-1 loss to the Nashville Predators.

Though some might point to the fact that the Wild are devastated by injuries at the moment — captain Jared Spurgeon, top center Joel Eriksson Ek, and shutdown defenseman Jonas Brodin are all out of the lineup — there was no excusing the lack of response that allowed the Kings to take over the game.

The embarrassment started in the first period as center Phillip Danault scored on a redirection in front to make it 1-0 in favor of the Kings. That score held until winger Kevin Fiala got the best of his old team with a snipe on the power play to stretch the lead to 2-0. Not long after that, winger Viktor Arvidsson made it 3-0, getting lucky when his centering pass found its way into the back of the net.

It got worse for the Wild in the second period as they struggled to keep up with the Kings. It became clear the game was over when defenseman Matt Roy made it 4-0 on the opening shift of the frame. After defenseman Jordan Spence stretched the lead to 5-0, center Anze Kopitar finalized the score at 6-0.

It got ugly in the third period as center Ryan Hartman got into it with Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois. After refusing to fight Hartman, and eating a few punches anyway, Dubois took a cheap shot at defenseman Brock Faber. That sparked another scuffle with teammates coming to Faber’s aid.  The officials started handing out game misconduct penalties in an effort to regain control as things devolved.

Now the Wild will shift their focus to Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. If the Wild don’t win that game, they can pretty much kiss any chances of making the playoffs goodbye.

There is no longer any margin for error with this group. Not after what their latest blowout loss.

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The Gophers men’s basketball team will play Indiana State in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament in Terre Haute, Ind., at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Top-seeded Indiana State (29-6) beat Southern Methodist 101-92 in a first-round NIT home game Wednesday. The Sycamores feature Robbie Avila, a unique 6-foot-10 center with a slew of punny nicknames including “Cream Abdul-Jabbar,” “Larry Nerd” and “Milk Chamberlain.”

Avila is known for his unorthodox offensive game. He leads the team with 17.5 points per game and had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against SMU.

Indiana State won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title with a 17-3 record, but Drake won the conference tournament and Indiana State missed out on an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.

Minnesota’s defense, which had holes in the last half of the Big Ten season, will have its hands full against Indiana State. They have five players averaging double-digit points this season, including Jayson Kent, who had 35 in the SMU win.

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A juvenile goat residing on a Stevens County farm with a highly pathogenic avian influenza-positive poultry flock tested positive for the same virus.

This is the first U.S. detection of HPAI in a domestic ruminant (cattle, sheep, goats and their relatives), according to a news release from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. All poultry on the west-central Minnesota property were already quarantined from the February avian influenza detection.

Following the confirmation of flu in the goat, the board quarantined all other species on the premises. The board is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate the transmission of the virus in this case.

“This finding is significant because, while the spring migration is definitely a higher risk transmission period for poultry, it highlights the possibility of the virus infecting other animals on farms with multiple species,” State Veterinarian Brian Hoefs said in the news release. “Thankfully, research to-date has shown mammals appear to be dead-end hosts, which means they’re unlikely to spread HPAI further.”

Earlier this month, the owner notified the board of unusual deaths of newly kidded goats on the property where a backyard poultry flock was euthanized due to avian influenza in February. The goats and poultry had access to the same space, including a shared water source.

One of the goat carcasses was taken to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where it tested positive for influenza A. The National Veterinary Services Laboratories later confirmed H5N1 HPAI, the same virus circulating in the national outbreak that began in 2022. Samples from the adult goats were negative for HPAI, and all appear healthy. No more sick goat kids have been reported since March 11, according to the Board of Animal Health.

HPAI has been previously diagnosed in other mammalian species such as skunks, dogs and cats, according to the board. Animals with weakened or immature immune systems, like the goat kids in this case, are at higher risk of contracting disease.

There has been limited experimental data on HPAI infection in ruminants, and there are no prior reports of natural HPAI infection in goats. The USDA has tracked more than 200 detections of HPAI in mammals across the country since the start of the 2022 HPAI outbreak.

The Minnesota Department of Health provided recommendations for personal protective equipment and is monitoring the health of those in direct contact with the infected goats. Anyone who develops respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms after exposure to the goats may be voluntarily tested for avian influenza and other respiratory pathogens.

The risk to the public is extremely low, and any risk of infection is limited to people in direct contact with infected animals. To date, no people in the United States have become ill following contact with mammals infected with avian virus.

Biosecurity is the first line of defense for anyone to protect their animals from disease and includes simple measures like cleaning equipment and housing regularly, separating livestock from wild animals and calling your veterinarian when animals appear sick.

To learn more important steps to protect animals from HPAI and other diseases, visit the Board of Animal Health’s biosecurity webpage at bah.state.mn.us/biosecurity.

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