The Minnesota Wild somehow pulled two points from the jaws of defeat Tuesday, in a late night thriller against the Utah Hockey Club. Marco Rossi, who the Wild are still shopping on the trade market, scored the game-tying goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
Minnesota then finished off the Utah Hockey Team to be Named Later, in a shootout. The final result was a 5-4 Wild victory, but the real win came after the game, when head coach John Hynes gave updates on the injuries (and ongoing recovery) of three key players who are currently on the Wild’s injured list.
Injury updates on Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin
Defenseman Jonas Brodin and forward Mats Zuccarello have both started skating again, which means their return is likely imminent. Top centerman, Joel Eriksson Ek is “progressing” from his recent lower-body injury. He has not yet begun skating yet, according to what Minnesota’s head coach told Michael Russo (The Athletic).
Hynes said Brodin, Eriksson Ek and Zuccarello are progressing, and Brodin and Zuccarello have started skating.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 11, 2024
How badly do the Wild need to get their guys back? Well, last night Hynes put lines onto the ice that no NHL team would be proud of, let alone one sitting on top of the league standings with 42 points, in just 28 games played.
Minnesota Wild need the rest of their top-liners back
Minnesota has chosen to put all of its offensive eggs into its 1st line basket, with Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy all playing together. And they are playing A LOT. With the extra period on Tuesday, Kaprizov racked up over 25 minutes of ice time, Rossi over 23 minutes.
Marco secures a point for us pic.twitter.com/IqsvTDMQVU
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 11, 2024
Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy || Faber-Middleton
Foligno-Hartman-Johansson || Spurgeon-Chisholm
Lauko-Gaudreau-Trenin || Merrill-Bogosian
Shore-Khusnutdinov-Jones
On defense, they are stagger-shifting Brock Faber, Jake Middleton and Jared Spurgeon, to make sure one of the three are on the ice at almost all times. The three defensemen all played over 23 minutes vs Utah. Next closest was Declan Chisholm, who logged just 18:53 of TOI.
Related: Minnesota Wild Trade 1st Round Pick for Top NHL-Ready Defenseman
The Minnesota Wild, according to Russo, are trying to play a slower brand of hockey. The objective is to avoid “track meets”, until they get the rest of their top players back. Last night, they were mostly successful with that strategy. That was until the 3rd period, when they allowed three goals and nearly coughed up a win.
Thankfully, that did not happen. The Wild got their two points, stayed on top of the NHL standings, and now appear close to getting two of their best players activated from injured reserve.