Grand Casino Arena in Minnesota was stop number two for the Sharks who continue on with their 3-game road trip on Friday night. San Jose had the unfortunate scheduling disadvantage of facing the best team in the Western Conference in the Wild. San Jose did nothing to dispel the premonition that this night wasn't going to go well for the Bay Area team. Minnesota toyed with the Sharks before exposing them in a 4-1 mismatch.

With every loss, the Sharks look farther and farther from the team that showed signs of life last season. This season's group is sleepwalking through games right now. Friday night was no exception.

The Wild's top players showed everyone why they are a Cup contender this season. Quinn Hughes and Kiril Kaprizov were menaces on the ice all night.

The Sharks setup the game's first goal by taking careless penalties 28 seconds apart. First Ty Dellandrea was called for a hold that looked more like a trip at the7:00 mark, then Collin Graf followed his teammate to the penalty by tripping Kiril Kaprizov before the Wild could even establish their power play.

Kaprizov made the Sharks pay by scoring his 16th goal of the season at 7:55 on a one-time chance from the right side. Quinn Hughes setup the goal with his 18th assist of the season, extending his point-scoring streak to 7 games.

Will Smith had the best scoring chance for San Jose in the period after he crashed in goaltender Jesper Wallstedt late in the period after the Sharks worked a 2-on-1 rush.

While Minnesota's goal came with a 2-man advantage, it was still a power play goal. The Sharks had their opportunities with the man advantage but they could not put anything together that would challenge for a goal. San Jose played with the extra skater 8 minutes into the 2nd period, their 3rd power play of the night, but nothing even remotely challenged Wallstedt.

San Jose would get the equalizer while skating 5-on-5 at the 12:11 mark. Dmitry Orlov saw Macklin Celebrini cutting into the slot from the left side, so he decided to fire the puck on a trajectory to the left of the goal. The pass hit Celebrini in the stick blade for a redirect past Wallstedt. The goal was Celebrini's team leading 7th of the season.

The tie was short-lived. Jacob Trouba took an interference penalty at 12:59 while leveling Matt Boldy on a Wild shot on goal.

The Wild took full advantage of the power play when Maxim Shabanov put his 6th of the season past Yaroslav Askarov. Shabanov crept over to the left post with Michael Kesselring focusing on Joel Eriksson-Ek at the top of the crease. Kaprizov spotted Shabanov on the weak side and sent a laser pass for the easy tap in and his 6th of the season.

Quinn Hughes scored the back breaker 6:54 into the 3rd period on a long shot from the left side that evaded Askarov. The defenseman carried the puck around the top of both circles before sending an 80-foot shot from the left circle that tucked inside the top right corner.

San Jose threw in the towel at the point. Celebrini was sent off for hauling down Hughes from behind, a move that looked more like frustration than an attempt to win a hickey game.

Zach Bogosian scored one more goal for good measure at 13:58 by throwing a puck on net from the right wing boards. Askarov had a good look but he just flat out missed the shot.

The two teams burned the final 6 minutes as quickly as possible to put an end to another Sharks loss.

Game Notes:

* Rookie defenseman Erik Pohlkamp hails from Baxter, Minnesota. He had roughly 30 family members in attendance.

* Macklin Celebrini now has 16 points in 7 games against Minnesota during his short 2+ year career.

* Quinn Hughes (1 goal, 2 assists) and Kiril Kaprizov (1 goal, 3 assists) controlled the ice all night.

* Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky's top line of the day consisted of Macklin Celebrini, Michael Misa and Will Smith. Warsofsky continues to scramble his top line in search of something that will help snap their current losing streak.

* Penalties were a game killer for the Sharks. Minnesota generated all the offense they needed from Shark penalties. The Sharks allowed 5 Wild power plays. Minnesota converted on 2 of them.