Wild see two key players exit early with injury Saturday

Michael Russo of The Athletic notes that Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson and forward Kirill Kaprizov had to leave Saturday night's against the Winnipeg Jets.

Gustavsson left the game after the second period with an apparent lower-body injury and had to be replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury, who dressed in his 999th career NHL game. Gustavsson allowed three goals on 22 shots before the injury issue and had been playing terrific since the Wild made a coaching change. With John Hynes behind the bench for Minnesota, Gustavsson has gone 8-2 with a .932 save percentage and 1.87 goals-against average.

Kaprizov, meanwhile, sat on the Wild bench in pain after taking two cross-checks to the back from Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon. The incident occurred in the third period and saw the cross-checks go unpenalized. It was the second time this year that Kaprizov has been hurt during a game in Winnipeg as the 26-year-old suffered a lower-body injury last season on March 8. Much like Gustavsson’s injury, Kaprizov’s ailment couldn’t have come at a worse time as he has been terrific as of late under Hynes. Kaprizov has five goals and four assists in his past five games and is up to 34 points in 34 games this season. Both players are currently being evaluated by the Wild’s medical staff.

With the injuries to both players, the Wild have announced that they’ve recalled goaltender Zane McIntyre and forward Nic Petan from Iowa of the AHL. The 31-year-old McIntyre has not dressed in an NHL game since February of 2017 when he was a member of the Boston Bruins and has never won an NHL game in eight appearances. He will likely serve as a backup to Fleury Sunday as the three-time Stanley Cup champion is expected to play in his 1000th career NHL game.

Petan has 165 games of NHL experience and dressed in one game earlier this season for the Wild. The 28-year-old has been terrific this season in the AHL, posting 10 goals and 18 assists in 26 games with Iowa. The Wild finish off the calendar year with a matchup against the Jets in the second half of their home-and-home series.