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 Minnesota Wild are getting a perfect storm of returns for Thursday evening against the Utah Hockey Club as both star forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon have been activated from IR.
Superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon returned to practice on Wednesday. Head coach John Hynes told reporters he's "cautiously optimistic" that both will play in their upcoming game against the Utah Hockey Club at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild are bringing Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back from injuries as the NHL season reaches the home stretch.
Spurgeon missed the Wild's last nine games due to his lower-body issue but looks good to go again. In order to activate Spurgeon and Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) off injured reserve, the team needed to send David Jiricek back to the minors.
The Minnesota Wild will have two pivotal players in the lineup Thursday for the first time since late December.Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon will play against the Utah Hockey Club, sources told The Athletic's Michael Russo.
The Wild activated star Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon from injured reserve before their game against Utah on Thursday, putting two integral players back in the lineup.
The Minnesota Wild host the Utah Hockey Club Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center, and could be getting two of their best players back from injury. Forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon were on the ice with the team at practice on Wednesday at TRIA Rink.
The Minnesota Wild faced the Utah Hockey Club for the third time this season and the second meeting in Minnesota. Each team won their respective road game, with the Wild winning 5-4 in a shootout in Salt Lake City and then Utah won 2-1 in regulation in St.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the Utah Hockey Club defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-0 at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.
Kaprizov had a couple scoring chances for the Wild (28-16-4), who were delighted to get their superstar back after he missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for Utah (21-19-7) in what was just their second shutout win of the season.