DENVER – The Wild isn't the only team missing key players.
So is its opponent across the ice.
Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon will be out for the remainder of the team's four-game series against the Wild, which resumes Tuesday at Ball Arena in Denver.
MacKinnon is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury suffered Sunday in the Wild's 4-3 overtime win at Xcel Energy Center.
That game the Wild started a completely revamped lineup with regulars Marcus Foligno (COVID protocols), Marcus Johansson (upper-body injury), Matt Dumba (lower-body injury) and Kevin Fiala (suspension) sidelined.
And despite relying on three players from its taxi squad who hadn't played in almost a year, the Wild persevered with a no-nonsense approach that it'll try to duplicate in Round 3.
"Hopefully we can play that way and even better," coach Dean Evason said. "We know they're going to be real good here. They always are. We have to play a very similar type of game. It needs to be a grinding game. Regardless if MacKinnon is in or not, they're a very special group. We've got to pay attention to certain people, obviously, but we've got to play the type of game, the type of gritty game, that we played the other night in order to give ourselves an opportunity.
"Having said that, it's not just against Colorado. That's how the Minnesota Wild hopefully play on every single night and give ourselves an opportunity to have the result we want."
