The Minnesota Wild hosted the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday evening, Jan. 23, in their third meeting of the season. After being injured, they welcomed Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back to the lineup,
Max Pacioretty was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 18, and missed his second game when the Maple Leafs lost 5-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. Initially, he was listed as day to day, but coach Craig Berube said Wednesday that the timeline has changed.
Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season, Barrett Hayton scored twice and Utah beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Thursday night for its third straight victory.
The team’s leading scorer didn’t talk about his lower-body injury after morning skate as the team prepared for tonight’s game against Utah.
Kirill Kaprizov will return to the lineup for the Minnesota Wild against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+). The forward has missed the past 12 games because of a lower-body injury that was considered day to day.
Kaprizov (lower body) will be back in the lineup versus Utah on Thursday, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Kaprizov will return to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 23 against Chicago, a stretch of 12 games on long-term injured reserve.
Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes said he is "cautiously optimistic" that star forward Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon will return to the lineup against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday.
As per Michael Russo, the Minnesota Wild are set to activate Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon from the injured reserve and long-term injured reserve.
Coach John Hynes, per Michael Russo of The Athletic, told reporters he is " cautiously optimistic " that star forward Kirill Kaprizov and captain/defenceman Jared Spurgeon will return from injury Thursday against the Utah Hockey Club.
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (28-15-4) have been without their superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov since December 27th. He is set to return tonight against the Utah Hockey Club (20-19-7). Kaprizov, 27, missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was originally given a day-to-day timeline which eventually turned out to be four weeks.
It wasn’t too long ago that Kaprizov was viewed by many as the frontrunner for the Hart Trophy. The pace he was on is best illustrated by the fact the he still leads the Wild with 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) despite missing so much time.