After Ryan Hartman was fined by NHL, fans raised over $20,000, which he'll donate to Children's MN

DALLAS — Ryan Hartman will have to do some digging to find any of his old e-mails.

The Wild center's inbox landed the notifications that fans were donating to his Venmo account in response to the fine the NHL levied at Hartman for unsportsmanlike conduct after he stuck up for linemate Kirill Kaprizov during the 5-1 win over the Oilers on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center.

"I'm going to have to get that sorted out when I get home," Hartman said. "But not a bad problem to have."

Kaprizov took a cross-check from Edmonton's Evander Kane in the third period and Hartman stepped in, scuffling with Kane before officials intervened.

When the players were separated, Hartman made a hand gesture toward Kane and was subsequently fined $4,250 by the league on Wednesday.

"Obviously, I don't want to be a bad role model by any means to young hockey players or anything," Hartman said. "But just something that kind of happened out of the spur of the moment."

In the aftermath, the Venmo alerts rolled in — a reaction Hartman wasn't expecting.

"I've been fined a few times in my career," he said, "and it's the first time we've had a fan base that's trying to help pay it off for me."

As of Friday morning, Hartman tweeted that $20,000 had been collected from fans. He's paying the fine himself, though, and said the money he's receiving will be donated to Children's Minnesota. Hartman also said he'll add the amount of the fine to the donation, bringing it close to $25,000.

"As a team, we've stuck together all year and defended each other and now the fans are part of that," Hartman said. "So, it was pretty cool to see them get behind us like that."

Nic Deslauriers returned to the lineup against the Stars after the winger missed two games with an injury from blocking a Colton Parayko shot Friday at St. Louis.

"The swelling was too big to fit in my skate," Deslauriers said.

Still sidelined for the Wild are winger Jordan Greenway along with defensemen Jon Merrill and Matt Dumba, all with upper-body injuries. Merrill is with the team on this road trip, and coach Dean Evason said the team is being cautious with his return. The Wild does have an extra forward available after recalling Connor Dewar from Iowa in the American Hockey League.

Tyson Jost, who took Greenway's place next to Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno on Tuesday against the Oilers after Greenway exited the game hurt, remained on that line. Deslauriers was back in his usual spot at wing on the fourth line, with Brandon Duhaime the opposite winger and Nick Bjugstad centering the trio.

Although the Wild debated starting Cam Talbot vs. Dallas, Marc-Andre Fleury suited up to keep the rotation going that's been in place since Fleury debuted last month following a trade from Chicago.

Talbot made 27 saves against Edmonton, extending his career-longest point streak to 11 games and winning for the 10th time over his past 12 starts.

As for the team's goaltending plan for the playoffs, Evason said, "We haven't talked about it at all. We haven't. I haven't talked about it with [General Manager Bill Guerin]. We haven't talked about it as a coaching staff. I know it's cliché, but it's game by game and we'll see what happens."