Much was made of the disparity between the Wild’s special teams and those of Dallas during the Stars’ first-round postseason victory over Minnesota last spring, and for good reason.

They were the primary reason the Stars won the best-of-7 series in six games.

Wild players landed in the box 24 times against Dallas, and the Stars scored on nine of those man advantages. Minnesota scored on 4 of 22 power-play chances. When it was over, the Wild thought they were the better team at even strength, but it didn’t really matter.

They also were missing forward Joel Eriksson Ek, a key piece on both special-teams units. He played just one playoff shift because of a broken leg.

Eriksson Ek is back and playing well; he leads the team with 10 points and three power-play goals. The Wild also went out this offseason and hired assistant coach Jason King to help with the special teams. Yet the regular-season numbers have been worse through nine early games — down from a 80.6 percent success rate to 67.9 on the kill, and from 20.5 percent success on the power play to 13.9.

“Both special teams have not helped us as much as they’ve hindered us this year to start the season. Both of them need to be better,” coach Dean Evason said this week as the Wild prepared for Thursday’s 7 p.m. puck drop against the New Jersey Devils at Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota surrendered two power-play goals on three chances in a 4-2 loss at New Jersey on Sunday, while the Wild went 1 for 6, a stark example of how special teams have hurt them during a 3-4-2 start.

“There is something off (but) I think we know what we need to do,” Eriksson Ek said. “For us, I think it’s getting a little swagger back out there and being confident that we’re going to get the job done.”

For the most part, the power-play unit players are tired of talking about it, at a loss to explain the paucity of goals. despite getting a lot of zone time and scoring chances, five on 36 chances.

“You hope that eventually it starts going in,” said Ryan Hartman, who leads the team with six goals and scored the Wild’s power-play goal on Sunday.

Power-play piece Matt Boldy has missed seven games, and Freddy Gaudreau — a key player on both units — has missed three. The Wild also have been playing without defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who practiced with the team on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in a preseason game. He quarterbacked the second power-play unit and is a top penalty-killer.

Without him, the Wild have allowed nine power-play goals on 28 chances.

“The good part is we’re not taking a lot of penalties. The bad part is they’re scoring, so your percentage looks poor,” Evason said after his team worked extensively on both units during a long practice on Wednesday.

On the kill, Evason said, “We’re making some mistakes, we’re close, a couple inches from taking a seam pass away, or making a block or getting a clear. So, we’ve just gotta stick with it.”

Injuries

Matt Boldy, a key part of the first power-play unit, was set to play Thursday for the first time since he was injured in a 7-3 loss Oct. 14 in Toronto. And Spurgeon is eligible to come off long-term injury reserve as early as Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers at the X.

Alex Goligoski (lower body) and Freddy Gaudreau (upper body) are not skating.

“Obviously, Spurgeon progressed into skating with us a little bit,” Evason said Thursday. “Goose isn’t at that level yet, and neither is Freddy Gaudreau. When they do, we’ll know that they’re closer to getting into our lineup.”

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