The Minnesota Wild will be without their young forward Joel Eriksson Ek when they will host the Dallas Stars later on Thursday. Swedish forward suffered a lower-body injury in the Wild´s last game against the San Jose Sharks on Monday night. Eriksson Ek should be out for at least a week, but head coach Bruce Boudreau doesn’t expect him to be out longer than that. The Wild will get other forward Luke Kunin back to their lineup.
Kunin is ready to return, Boudreau said. Eriksson Ek has a lower-body injury that Boudreau hopes doesn’t keep him out for no longer than a week.
— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) 13. marca 2019
Joel Eriksson Ek Out For Minnesota Wild
Eriksson Ek is playing in his third season with the Wild. He has collected 36 points over his 143 starts in the NHL with Minnesota. Over the current campaign, the Swedish forward has recorded six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 53 games. A 22-year-old versatile forward is set to become a restricted free agent in the offseason.
On the other side, the Wild will get back forward Luke Kunin, who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. Eriksson Ek was centering the third offensive line for the Wild with Ryan Donato and Pontus Aberg. Kunin should center wingers Donato and Jason Zucker while seeing time on the second power-play unit.
The Wild Batlle For The Playoffs Through Injuries
The Wild are still pretty much into the playoff battle in the Western Conference. As of right now, Minnesota is just one point away from the eighth place in the Western Conference with 74 points. Their opponents tonight, the Dallas Stars, are one of the teams to chase for the Wild as the Stars sit on the sixth place in the standings with 79 points.
Minnesota has to battle through some key injuries including captain Mikko Koivu and defenceman Matt Dumba. Dumba was skating back on the ice for the first time since December on Wednesday, but it´s unclear whether he will return to play for the Wild this season. Should they make a deep playoff run, the possibility of Dumba´s comeback would be bigger.
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