Zuccarello notched a power-play assist, two shots on goal and two blocked shots in Wednesday's 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Zuccarello continues to impress in January with four goals and 10 helpers,

And the clearest signal that Kaprizov and Spurgeon would be back is that the Wild reassigned defenseman David Jiricek two hours after practice. If you did the salary cap math, it really was the only option to get below the cap ceiling once Kaprizov is activated from LTIR.

The Minnesota Wild survived without Kirill Kaprizov the first time, and they can do it again. That’s the message they sent Wednesday, when they upended the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at Scotiabank Arena to kick off Kaprizov’s second hiatus with their most convincing victory in weeks.

Upon his return from injury on Wednesday, Kirill Kaprizov’s teammates said they missed his smile. “It’s really good to have him back,” Kaprizov’s Norwegian bestie, Mats Zuccarello, said after seeing him after Wednesday’s practice.

As most Minnesota Wild fans have seen by now, their beloved star scorer, Kirill Kaprizov, is set to undergo surgery for a lower-body injury that has bothered him for most of the season.

While still holding the best road record in the NHL, Minnesota fell to below .500 at home (11-12-1) with the loss.

Jared Spurgeon and Marat Khusnutdinov scored in the first period, Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 shots, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1.

Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon were full participants during practice and seem likely to return to the lineup on Thursday. Kaprizov, 27, has missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was in line rushes with Mats Zuccarello and Marco Rossi so all signs point to him returning to the lineup.

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.

What if I told you that the Minnesota Wild were ranked in the top 10 in the NHL in goals per game through the first quarter of the season? However, they have been slipping down the rankings since then.

Joseph Woll will start for the Maple Leafs. The Wild are on the front end of a back-to-back tonight. They play the Montreal Canad