The Minnesota Wild remain bitten by injuries to key players, but help is on the way.
Veteran defenseman Jake Middleton could return to the ice when the Wild host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night in Saint Paul, Minn. The Wild are looking for their fourth win in a row, and the Blues hope to bounce back from a loss as they close out a two-game road trip.
Middleton, 29, would be a welcome addition to the Wild’s blue line. He has not played since Dec. 12, when he was drilled on the hand by an opponent’s shot.
Before his injury, Middleton had 13 points (five goals, eight assists) and a plus-22 rating in 29 games.
“‘Midsy’ is a good-skating, big, strong defenseman,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Defends well. He’s bringing an offensive component to our team. I think he’s using his skating to be able to join the rush and be a fourth attacker at the right times. I think he’s doing a nice job at the offensive blue line shooting, finding lanes, when to be involved in the play.
“He’s been solid defensively in the hard areas of the ice, but then his game continues to grow in understanding when and how to join the play out of a breakout, be part of the line rush, be productive in the offensive zone. Those things are all progressing for him, and that’s why he was going really well before he got hurt.”
The Blues also are a bit short-handed as defenseman Justin Faulk and center Radek Faksa sat out the team’s most recent game because of injuries. Faulk is dealing with an upper-body injury while Faksa has a lower-body injury.
Jordan Kyrou leads St. Louis with 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 41 games. Robert Thomas is next with 30 points (eight, 22) in 29 games, and Dylan Holloway has 29 points (14, 15) in 41 games.
Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said he and his teammates needed to stay focused as they headed to Minnesota.
“Keep it simple,” Parayko said. “Nothing crazy, I don’t think. Just playing our game and playing simple. When we’re playing our game, we play fast, we move the puck fast, we’re skating and supporting. Just little things like that. When we do that for 60 minutes — I think that’s the biggest thing is just being consistent for 60 minutes — we’ll be good.”
Minnesota remains without top scorer Kirill Kaprizov, who has not yet returned to skating after sustaining a lower-body injury last month. Second-leading scorer Marco Rossi has stepped up in Kaprizov’s absence, recording four assists in his most recent game.
Rossi has 37 points (15, 22) in 40 games on the season. Matt Boldy has added 34 points (14, 20) in 40 games.
The Wild could start Filip Gustavsson or Marc-Andre Fleury in net. Gustavsson is 18-6-3 with a 2.20 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage, and Fleury is 7-3-1 with a 2.81 GAA and an .898 save percentage.
Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington is 11-14-3 with a 2.79 GAA and an .899 save percentage. Backup Joel Hofer is 8-4-1 with a 2.92 GAA and a .901 save percentage.
–Field Level Media
