After the Minnesota Wild’s big overtime win against the Boston Bruins last night, they’ve shown that they can play decently without the injured players. However, this afternoon, the Wild unexpectedly announced that they were placing Mats Zuccarello on Long Term Injured Reserve.
While Zuccarello traveled with the team on their back-to-back road trip, he was scratched seemingly at the last minute before the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was then announced that he would also not be playing against the Bruins.
Head Coach John Hynes originally said that this was not an LTIR injury. The upper-body injury was a lingering issue that Zuccarello has been dealing with for a while but seemed to be flaring up. It was suggested by medical staff that Zuccarello sit out a few games to heal before coming back.
Less than 24 hours later, the Wild have placed Zuccarello on LTIR. That means that he is expected to miss not only 10 NHL games but also 30 days where the season is in action. That does not count the days during the holiday break when no one is playing.
The Wild already have defenseman Jonas Brodin on LTIR, which freed up enough money for them to recall defensemen Daemon Hunt and Dakota Mermis, along with forward Vinni Lettieri. Captain Jared Spurgeon is also injured, although he is not on LTIR and could make his return as soon as Thursday in the game against the Montreal Canadiens. With Zucarello also freeing up cap space when going on LTIR, it’s becoming more likely that another forward may be called up from Iowa as insurance.
Last night, Lettieri stepped into the fourth line while Ryan Hartman jumped up as a wing on the second line alongside Marcus Foligno and Marco Rossi. The line change seemed to help Hartman, who scored the go-ahead goal, giving Minnesota the lead in the third before Boston tied it up to push the game into overtime.
Zuccarello, despite his lingering injury, has been having an amazing year. Continuing to get better with age, Zuccarello leads the team with 28 points and 22 assists. He’s been a real force pushing the team forward while his buddy Kirill Kaprizov worked through his scoring drought.
While Zuccarello will be missed, last night’s win shows that Minnesota can push through adversity and still win against a team who is currently fourth in the league for points. The overtime win could be a galvanizing force, allowing the Wild to turn their season around.
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