Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek smiled when asked about two of his longtime teammates returning from injuries this week.
One of the players, Kirill Kaprizov, is the leading scorer on the Wild. The other, Jared Spurgeon, is the team captain and a respected leader in the dressing room.
“It’s exciting,” Eriksson Ek said. “Two very important players for us. It’s fun to have them back out there.”
Barring any late surprises, Kaprizov and Spurgeon are expected to be on the ice when the Wild welcome the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn. Kaprizov has not played since Dec. 23, and Spurgeon has not played since Dec. 31.
Wild coach John Hynes said both players took part in practice Wednesday and looked good. Hynes said the duo’s return led to a high-energy practice ahead of Thursday’s game.
“It certainly helps when you have guys coming back and being part of the practice,” Hynes said. “Not only is the team excited, but I also think the players that are coming back from injury, they’re glad to be around the guys and the team and be at practice. Each side fuels each other.”
Utah also is feeling good after posting back-to-back wins at home against the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. The club will open a three-game road trip at Minnesota before traveling north of the border to face the Jets and the Ottawa Senators over the weekend.
Utah forward Clayton Keller said he liked the way that he and his teammates were playing together in the past week. Keller reached the 50-point mark in his latest game and has at least one point in each of his past four games, with two goals and seven assists during that span.
“The last three games, even though we didn’t win against the (New York) Rangers (three games ago), that was a step in the right direction,” Keller said. “If you keep doing the right things, you’re going to win. So it’s good to see us get a couple (of wins) before we go on the road.
“It’s a huge road trip for us. So I’m looking forward to that.”
Minnesota will start either Filip Gustavsson or Marc-Andre Fleury in net. Gustavsson is 18-9-3 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage, and Fleury is 10-4-1 with a 2.60 GAA and a .909 save percentage.
Utah’s main two netminders are Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram. Vejmelka is 10-13-3 with a 2.54 GAA and a .910 save percentage, and Ingram is 8-5-3 with a 3.29 GAA and an .882 save percentage.
This is the third meeting of the regular season between the teams. Minnesota won the first matchup 5-4 in a shootout round on Dec. 10, and Utah earned a 2-1 victory on Dec. 20.
Hynes said he wanted the Wild to continue to play a team game if Kaprizov and Spurgeon returned to the lineup.
“It’s important that if those two guys come back, they come in and they play their roles and play to their identities,” Hynes said. “But everybody else has to continue to do what they’re doing. When players come back of the magnitude of those two guys and everybody else continues to play at the level that they’ve played at, now your team can get stronger. That’s something that I would like to see.”
–Field Level Media
