The Minnesota Wild need to stop their two-game losing streak and they need to do it quickly. Their cushion in the Western Conference playoff race is down to just two points over the Blues for WC1 and five points ahead of the Canucks for the final WC2 slot.
Of course, winning games in the National Hockey League is much easier said than done, especially when half of your most talented players are out of the lineup dealing with various injuries. Thankfully, the news on the injury front has turned more positive, of late.
Jonas Brodin has been back on the active roster for three games now, but he’s only played two, as to avoid re-injuring himself during the back-to-back over the weekend. But the biggest piece of optimism came Wednesday, when John Hynes begrudgingly admitted that Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek are going to start skating this week, if they haven’t already…
Then Thursday morning, Michael Russo (The Athletic) tweeted the latest good news on the injury front, reporting that Marcus Foligno was on the ice today at MN Wild morning skate and expected to be back in the lineup tonight vs the Washington Capitals. About 20 minutes later, he walked back the likelihood of Foligno’s return coming immediately, changing his status to a “gametime decision”.
Tonight’s Minnesota Wild game will be broadcast in the national streaming spotlight. If he plays, it will be Foligno’s first game since March 15. He’s missed the past five games with an upper body injury he suffered that night vs the Blues.
Prior to his injury, Marcus Foligno’s 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) were easily pacing him for the most productive season of his career, offensively, since 2021-22. That was the year he played 74 games and went out of body with 42 points (23 goals, 19 assists).
Related: Latest Minnesota Wild Playoff Odds
No time during his 13 other NHL seasons, both before and after that out-of-body 42 point performance from ’21-’22, Foligno has never reached more than 26 total points in a season. But with 10 games still remaining in 2024-25, he only needs four more points to surpass his second highest total ever.
