After a tough home-and-home series against the Winnipeg Jets that saw multiple Minnesota Wild players leave with injuries, it was announced today that goalie Filip Gustavsson has been placed on Injured Reserve with a lower-body injury. Superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov will also be out for 1-2 weeks.
During the Saturday game in Winnipeg, Gustavsson started in net. In a surprise twist, Marc-Andre Fleury took over the cage at the start of the third period with Gustavsson not on the bench. During the second period, Gustavsson mentioned something was bothering him, giving Fleury a small amount of time to get ready to take over.
Gustavsson will be having another MRI tomorrow and will be missing at least a few weeks. Zane McIntyre was recalled from the Iowa Wild to back Fleury up on the Wild bench against the Jets on Sunday. While the Wild’s most touted goalie prospect, Jesper Wallstedt, would be more than capable of being the Wild’s backup goalie, he is also out with a lower-body injury.
Kaprizov was also injured in Winnipeg on Saturday. Taking two cross-checks to the lower back from Brenden Dillon, Kaprizov soon left down the tunnel with the athletic trainer and didn’t return to the game. This was eerily similar to last year when Kaprizov was also injured in Winnipeg and forced to miss several weeks with a lower-body injury.
The Wild are already playing without Jonas Brodin (upper-body injury) and Mats Zuccarello (upper-body) and just recently got both Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Hartman back from injury. Forward Vinni Lettieri was also out on Sunday with a lower-body injury, but he is listed as day-to-day.
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