The Minnesota Wild is able to seize a playoffs in a competitive Western conference.
They just have to avoid a breakdown in the last four matches in the regular season.
“It has been a grinding, but we are happy that we are in the driver’s seat, still,” Wild said forward Marcus Foligno. “Our fate is in our hands.”
Minnesota (42-29-7, 91 points) will look to strengthen their playoffs chances when it meets against San Jose Sharks (20-47-10, 50 points) on Wednesday evening in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Wild comes from a 3-2 overtime victory against Dallas Stars on Sunday. Road Victory snapped a four-game Winless ski for Minnesota, who returns home for a game before going back on the road for a couple of games against Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.
Injured forward Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek participated in five-on-five contact exercises during the training Tuesday, which highlighted the next step in their return to action. Kaprizov has not played since January 26 and Eriksson Ek since February 22.
Wild coach John Hynes said it was too early to know if any of the players could return Wednesday. Hynes said that Tuesday’s exercise marked the first time they have participated in five-five contact exercises since their injuries.
“I’ll talk to the coaches after today and see what the next step would be with them,” Hynes said.
Minnesota has leaned on Matt Boldy (26 goals, 41 assists) and Marco Rossi (24, 34) in Kaprizov’s absence.
One player that Hynes excluded with certainty is the defender Jake Middleton, who was injured Friday against the New York Islanders. Middleton did not participate in practice Tuesday.
When Wild prepares for several players to return in front of what they hope will be a season after the season, the sharks have five games to go before a long season. San Jose is in a six-match winless drought, and opponents have surpassed the sharks 29-10 during this range.
Macklin Celebrini leads the sharks with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists) in 65 matches during his Rookie campaign. William Eklund is the next with 55 points (17, 38) in 72 matches, and Tyler Toffoli has 50 points (28, 22) in 73 matches.
“I’m just trying to get better every day and learn from looking at the guys,” Celebrini said.
San Jose could turn to Alexandar Georgiev or Georgi Romanov in the net. Georgiev is 15-25-2 with a 3.69 goal-to average and a .873 savings percentage in the season, which includes 18 matches with Colorado, and Romanov is 0-4-0 with a 4.02 GAA and a 0.873 savings percentage.
Wild’s options in Net include Filip Gustavsson (30-18-6, 2.54 GAA, .915 Savings percent) and Marc-Andre Fleury (12-9-1, 2.78 GAA, .903 Savings percentage).
Hynes declined to announce its starting painter after Tuesday’s exercise. He said that Fleury, who is in the last season of a remarkable career, would have at least a time in the net this week.
The 40-year-old Fleury is ranked as others all the time with 573 career victories in 1,048 matches.
“We will sit down and discuss it,” Hynes said as he was asked about Fleury’s next start. “Possibly (Wednesday). Of course we have a back-to-back that comes up. If it goes well, hopefully we will earn ourselves here and we have more hockey to play, and he will be part of it.
“He is a veteran player. He recognizes it. And he is a competitor. But there will be some action for him this week.”
-Field level media
