Wild return from longest trip to the top of the Western Conference – Twin Cities

The Wild are back from their longest road trip of the season and are ready to play at home again for the first time since October 12th. It was a good trip.

Minnesota went 5-1-1 in a seven-game road series that ended with a five-game sweep in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. One of those games was a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay, and the Lightning will be looking for revenge when the teams drop the puck on Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild woke up Thursday morning to a virtual matchup with Dallas for second place in the Western Conference, a good spot after the first nine games of the season (6-1-2). Their only loss in the lineup came last Saturday, a 7-5 defeat in Philadelphia.

The team held a full practice at TRIA Rink on Thursday, after which coach John Hynes was asked if he was worried about his team losing the focus that helped them pass the first big test of the season with flying colors.

“No, it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “We had a good day off yesterday. We held a meeting and looked at some of these issues. This trip was good, but it won’t give us anything either today in training or tomorrow in the game.”

The strong start came despite injuries to some key players, which helped derail the Wild early last season.

Top center Joel Eriksson Ek was sidelined, then missed a couple more games with a broken nose. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon missed six games due to setbacks in his recovery from a pair of winter surgeries, and forward Ryan Hartman has been sidelined for the last five games with an upper-body injury.

Spurgeon returned to action after Tuesday night’s 5-3 win over Pittsburgh and practiced without issue Thursday. The team captain is following a recovery program following hip and back surgeries in February and March.

“He came out great on Tuesday,” Hines said. “He was fully trained today. He was undergoing treatment; everything was fine. So everything is good on that front.”

Hartman remains questionable after being injured in a 4-1 win over St. Louis on Oct. 15. Hines said Hartman has the potential to return against the Lightning on Friday, “as long as he is a full participant in practice.”

“But I still have to talk to the coaches today, practice and see if he is ready to play or not,” the coach added. “But he comes back to this point. Perhaps tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then I would say in the near future.”

Where exactly Hartman will play is unknown. Freddy Gaudreau took over as the third-line center and was effective, scoring two goals Tuesday.

“You’re going to have to make decisions, but they’re good decisions you’re going to have to make,” Hines said. “Of course they are difficult, but I prefer to make difficult decisions. I don’t have a clear plan for this at the moment until I get confirmation that it’s definitely there.”