Worn-out Wild face Stanley Cup champions at … perfect time?

The Wild have five regular players injured, including their starting goaltender and one of their best forwards and defensemen, but now might be the perfect time for them to go toe-to-toe with the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

Their 5-1 dismissal of the Panthers on Oct. 22 remains their statement win of the season, a by-the-book clinic that showed just how sharp the Wild can be when they execute their style to a T and return to their identity is exactly what Wild needs after a bumpy, ho-hum week-plus in which they rotated wins and losses.

“It was definitely one of our better games this year,” recalled defenseman Brock Faber. “When we’re good, we’re a tough team to play against. But when we’re like that, we’re a really tough team to play against. It was a really big win for us.

“I feel like it started us in the right direction, on the right foot.”

Nearly two months later, that effort is still the standard because of how accurate the Wild were.

They were machine-like in how they operated all over the ice, from their offense to their defense. Although their 22 shots are among their fewest in a game this season, they utilized astonishing efficiency, going 1-for-3, 2-for-4, 3-for-7, 4-for-13 and 5-for- 14. They didn’t commit a single penalty, keeping Florida’s leading players out of a powerplay setup, and they were stingy in front of goaltender Filip Gustavsson: He faced just one high-danger scoring chance in the third period.

“If we play to our structure, play the way we’re supposed to play,” Faber said, “we have a chance to win every night.”