John Hynes was happy his team came out of a long break with a road victory on Wednesday, but the head coach wasn’t thrilled with how the Wild beat an overmatched Blackhawks team, 2-1, in Chicago.

Afterward, the Wild head coach said he will never take two points for granted but noted that if his team wants to climb back into the race for a Western Conference playoff spot, the effort, the intensity, needs to be there for as close to 60 minutes as possible.

“Tonight,” he said after the game, “it wasn’t long enough.”

After the morning skate ahead of Friday night’s 7:20 p.m. puck drop against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Hynes was asked if he was surprised by the general effort — the Wild’s third and fourth lines were the difference. Hynes said: “I wouldn’t say surprised. You want more.”

“Particularly now,” he added, “coming off the break and understanding there’s limited runway here, and having some discussions about the identity and what we need consistently.”

Wednesday’s win pulled the Wild within five points of St. Louis for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West with 32 regular-season games left. But they have to jump four other teams to get there.

It’s certainly not impossible, but the Wild need to win a lot of games fast, something they haven’t done since going 11-3-0 after Hynes took over as head coach on Nov. 28.

“When you’re in the situation we’re in, you’d rather come out and play your best and let the chips fall where they may, versus leaving something out there, wanting more in your performance,” Hynes said. “You can’t control whether you win or lose the game, but you can certainly control your mindset, the intensity level and structure that you play with.

“Our objective is we’ve gotta make up some ground here. So, if we do that, there’s going to be a certain level of intensity about our game.”

Chisholm waits

Declan Chisholm, acquired off waivers from Winnipeg last week, had his second morning skate with his new team but was out of the lineup. The defenseman is still ramping up after playing only eight games this season, two with the Jets and six at AHL Manitoba.

“He’s a young player and he hasn’t played a lot,” Hynes said. “So, just ingrain him a little bit into the culture, how we do things, get a feel for how we’re playing. And then I think when he’s physically ready and feels good then, we’ll certainly give him an opportunity.”

The Wild’s next game is Monday in Vegas.

Chisholm, 24, was drafted by Winnipeg in the fifth round of the 2018 entry draft and had played his entire pro career in the Jets organization until he joined the team Wednesday in Chicago.

He acknowledged Friday that even wearing a new uniform is a little weird. “It’s almost like imposter syndrome,” he joked.

Briefly

Jonas Brodin played for the first time since returning from the break with an illness, slotting into the blue line with Zach Bogosian. Alex Goligiski was a healthy scratch. … Connor Dewar, out since Jan. 19 with a lower-body injury, skated with the team for the first time since being injured in a 6-4 victory at Florida.

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