LOS ANGELES – The upside of getting blitzed early is supposed to be all the time left to rally.

But not for the Wild.

Their slow start festered into a 6-0 dismantling by the Kings on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena that cost the team in more ways than one.

This was the Wild’s first regulation loss in nine games, and it prevented them from moving within a point of Vegas for the last wild-card seed in the Western Conference; instead, they remain three back and have played two more games than the Golden Knights.

Kirill Kaprizov’s goal and point streaks expired, at five and eight games respectively, and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was dealt his first regulation loss in six starts.

Fleury was replaced by Filip Gustavsson after a five-goal, 16-shot shellacking from Los Angeles that was both bizarre and troublesome for the Wild.

BOXSCORE: Los Angeles 6, Wild 0

NHL standings

First, there was the Ryan Hartman turnover that led to a Phillip Danault deflection just 5 minutes, 8 seconds into the first period.

Former Wild forward Kevin Fiala inflated the Kings’ lead on the power play with his patented top-shelf shot at 15:03, and then Viktor Arvidsson was awarded his first goal of the season in his return from injury when his centering attempt caromed off Dakota Mermis and behind Fleury with 3:34 to go in the first.

Only 28 seconds into the second period, Quinton Byfield’s pass clipped Brock Faber’s skate and went right to Matt Roy for a redirect that slipped through Fleury.

Back on the penalty kill, the Wild were tagged with their second own goal at 7:34 when Jordan Spence’s shot was tipped in by Marcus Foligno’s stick.

Gustavsson took over after that, making 10 saves in his second appearance in as many nights since he was in net for the Wild’s 4-0 shutout at Anaheim on Tuesday.

The only puck to elude Gustavsson was a sizzling one-timer with 2:45 remaining in the second period from Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar; two seconds earlier, Foligno exited the penalty box after sitting for goalie interference on the Kings’ David Rittich, who had 30 saves for his third shutout of the season and first ever against the Wild while improving to 4-0-1 against them.

Kopitar reached 1,200 career points when he assisted on Fiala’s first-period goal.

Los Angeles finished 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Wild were 0-for-2.

But perhaps the most troubling takeaway for the Wild was if this was a preview of how they’ll play without Jonas Brodin.

The defenseman was hurt against the Ducks, suffering a lower-body injury during a fall to the ice in which his right leg bent under his body.