In the messy post-World War II days, when the Soviet Union was triumphant, yet destroyed, with major cities in wreckage and 27 million dead from the conflict’s carnage, Anatoly Tarasov got a strange request from the communist government.

With no background in this most North American of sports, Tarasov was handed a few books on the rules of ice hockey, and in 1946 was ordered to start a Soviet program from scratch. The expectation was nothing less than developing the best hockey program in the world, virtually out of thin air. A decade later, at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Italy, the Soviets won the first of seven gold medals they could capture before the nation dissolved in 1991.

Tarasov introduced to the world a brand of hockey never before seen, which was based on a simple and unbeatable principle: puck possession. The Father of Russian Hockey realized early on in his studies of the game that if the opponents did not have control of the puck, they could not score. Thus began the era of dominant Soviet teams, in their imposing red sweaters with “CCCP” emblazoned on the front, who could skate like the wind, win faceoffs and pass. And pass, and pass, and pass and pass, often until the last player to touch the puck simply passed it into a near-empty net.

Generations later, as the Minnesota Wild work to solve one of the rare soft spots in their game this season, puck possession when killing penalties has come into sharp focus recently for coach John Hynes and his staff. When they skated at TRIA Rink on Tuesday, there were repeated and intense penalty kill drills. There was an often raised voice from the coach, demanding more intensity, and a few profane words mixed in. And there was work on winning defensive zone faceoffs, the lack of which has plagued their attempts to go two shorthanded minutes without allowing a goal.

During a lopsided loss to Edmonton last week, the Oilers won a power play faceoff and scored just five seconds after Matt Boldy had gone to the penalty box. In Sunday evening’s loss to Vegas, Freddie Gaudreau spent just seven seconds in solitude, as the Golden Knights won a defensive zone faceoff and scored almost immediately.

“It all starts there. That’s I think we’re at 30 percent, in the faceoff circle on the penalty kill,” Hynes said. “That’s a low number. I think that we’ve got to continue to work with the centers. I think they’ve put some effort into getting better in those areas.”

Watching tape of his team, which was 30th among the NHL’s 32 teams in penalty kill percentage entering Wednesday’s game versus Florida, Hynes has seen too many times where a lost faceoff by his penalty killers allows the opponent an opportunity to set up their preferred man advantage strategy immediately.

“They’re just snapped back clean right into a setup. If there’s 50-50 pucks, we’ve got to do a better job there,” he said. “Because if you can win the face off so you can get the clear, it’s a set play, you’re probably knocking off 20 seconds as opposed to starting where they win it back, they’ve gained top, now they’re right in their set up, right off the bat. So that’s an area where we’ve got to be better.”

A mere 78 years after Anatoly Tarasov first was handed that book on the rules of hockey, it still comes down to puck possession for the teams that win championships.

Gaunce makes Wild debut

Acquired as a free agent over the summer, forward Brendan Gaunce made his Minnesota Wild debut on Wednesday night versus Florida, playing a fourth-line wing role with Yakov Trenin still unavailable.

Originally from Sudbury, Ont., Gaunce is 30 and has played in 177 NHL games for Boston, Vancouver and Columbus prior to signing with the Wild. Hynes praised his offensive versatility in advance of the team’s new number 21 taking the ice.

“Good to see Gauncer come up. I thought he had a good camp and (he was) one of those guys that we talked about in the off season, a guy that can play wing and center, he can win faceoffs at both levels, the American League and the NHL level,” Hynes said. “So it’s good to see him. Another experienced guy that has really picked up his game and started playing well in Iowa as of late. So, good opportunity for him.”

While he primarily plays wing, Hynes praised Gaunce’s ability to take faceoffs and used him in practice while working on the penalty kill in practice extensively on Tuesday.

Gustavsson still out

Wild goaltending mainstay Filip Gustavsson got some on-ice work separate from the team on Wednesday, but was not available to return to the lineup as he deals with a lower body injury that Hynes has classified as a relatively minor day-to-day issue.

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