As the Minnesota Wild held their morning skate in downtown Toronto on Wednesday, ahead of their only visit to face the Maple Leafs this season, they were a man short. Again.
But if there were players or coaches worried about another likely month-long stretch without high-scoring forward Kirill Kaprizov on the ice, their coach said this is just the latest challenge thrown their way in a season where injuries to key players have been a fact of life.
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“We’ve had a lot of injuries all year, to multiple different guys,” John Hynes told media gathered at Scotiabank Arena. “The good thing for us is we know who we are as a team, we know what we are as a team, regardless of who’s in the lineup, and that’s the way we need to continue to approach it as we go down the stretch here.”
Still, the Wild simply do not have a player who is capable of replicating Kaprizov’s dynamic play with the puck, which has taken him to the top of the team’s scoring charts despite missing a month of the season already with a lower-body injury scheduled to be surgically repaired this week.
But Hynes noted that in top-liners such as Marco Rossi, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek, the team has some important parts that can fill the game. He pointed specifically to Eriksson Ek, the good-sized Swedish center known for his non-stop motor and play in front of the opponents’ crease.
“Ekkie is, I think, one of the best two-way forwards in the league, and he’s a guy that plays, obviously, a lot of key situations for us — big strong centerman that can play against top guys, if the matchups allow,” Hynes said. “He’s a guy that helps drive our team as a core guy, but the way that he plays the game on both sides of the puck is as important as anything.”
Hynes added that forward Yakov Trenin and defenseman Declan Chisholm would return to the lineup in Toronto after each was a healthy scratch for the team’s 4-2 win in Chicago on Sunday.
Starting Wednesday, the Wild play three games in four nights, with games at Montreal on Thursday at Ottawa on Saturday. But they’re also right in their element, it was noted, with Minnesota boasting the NHL’s best record in road games (18-5-3), while thus far playing sub-.500 hockey at Xcel Energy Center.
“I just think that the mindset that we play with has been strong,” Hynes said. “We have a close-knit group. I think we clearly understand the identity that we need to play with, and on the road we’ve been very committed to that. From the start, we’re ready to start games, and I think we make good decisions to set our game up to give us the best chance to win.”
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Briefly
The Wild recalled veteran forward Ben Jones from Iowa on Wednesday. Jones, 25, has skated in 26 games for Minnesota this season, recording 24 shots, 11 blocked shots and 51 hits, ranking third among Wild skaters with a 2.0 hits per game average.
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