Without several of their best players on Tuesday, the Wild gave themselves a chance to beat the Calgary Flames with strong second and third periods, yet still fell to their Central Division rival, 3-1, and lost ground in the playoff chase.

Still, the team’s performance was, in general, something for the team to build on while it awaits the return of points leaders Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, top pair defenseman Jonas Brodin, veteran leader Marcus Foligno and No. 1 goaltender Filip Gustavsson.

The group, which also includes fourth-line forward Vinni Lettieri, is responsible for a combined 28 goals, five game-winners and 81 points. Brodin ranks second to rookie Brock Faber in time on ice (23:54 average), and Gustavsson has a team-best 22 appearances, 10 wins and 2.96 goals-against average in net.

Kaprizov, who has 13 goals and a team-high 34 points, was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday. He will be eligible to return next Monday against Dallas at Xcel Energy Center, although that seems optimistic.

It’s an awful lot of production to replace, especially for a team trying to keep its head above water in the Western Conference playoff race, and especially for a team that must rely on a trio of forwards — Nic Petan, Jake Lucchini and Sammy Walker — who have played a combined nine NHL games this season.

But coach John Hynes believes he has a recipe for success.

“There’s a reason they are in the NHL. … They’re all good players,” Hynes said. “What makes them a good player, and gets them to this level and gets them these opportunities, they’ve gotta bring that at a high level. It’s not that you have to do anything outside of what your skill set is, but what your identity is as a player, you’ve gotta bring that at a high level.”

Petan, a veteran of 168 NHL games in a 12-year professional career, had the first assist on the Pat Maroon’s goal on Tuesday, which pulled the Wild within a goal midway through the second period.

Lucchini (14) and Walker, a former Gophers forward from Edina, have a combined 26 NHL games between them.

“Every guy that came in played good,” veteran forward Freddy Gaudreau said after Tuesday’s game.

The Wild have played well enough to compete for three periods in their past two games, their first with Kaprizov and Gustavsson. They lost a tight, 3-2 game to a good Winnipeg team on Sunday, and had pulled Marc-Andre Fleury to get the tying goal on Tuesday when Blake Coleman scored an empty-netter.

The idea, or hope, is that without the firepower of Kaprizov and Zuccarello — who went through his first team workout since being in Tuesday’s morning skate — the Wild can play sound defensively and win tight games.

“It’s obviously tough timing,” Foligno said after scoring in Sunday’s loss to the Jets. “We’ve got some key guys out and you never like to see that. You think if you have Zuccy, Kirill and Brodes in there it’s a different game.

“But you know what? We’re playing well. We’ve got the systems and the guys in here to squeak wins out, and that’s what we have to do. When you have guys out like that, you gotta play a lot simpler and create chances in their zone and just be hard to play against.”

Wounded Wild

The Wild will play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday without a large handful of their best players. Here are the players who missed Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Calgary:

Player/Pos.               Injury            Last game       Status
Marcus Foligno, F     Lower body    01/02                Day/day
Filip Gustavsson, G  Lower body    12/31                IR
Kirill Kaprizov, F        Upper body    12/31               IR
Vinni Lettieri , F         Lower Body   12/31               Day/day
Mats Zuccarello, F    Upper body    12/16               Week/week
Jonas Brodin, D        Upper body    12/08               LTIR

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