Wild defenseman Carson Soucy draws one-game suspension

When the Wild puts its five-game winning streak on the line Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver, it will be doing so without one of its top six defensemen.

Carson Soucy was suspended for one game for his hit on Arizona Coyotes forward Conor Garland during Minnesota's 3-0 victory Tuesday night, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Wednesday. Soucy, who received a five-minute major penalty for charging, will miss the opener of a two-game series at Colorado.

In explaining its reasoning for the suspension, the player safety department said in a video that Soucy "elevated unnecessarily, launching up and into a check that makes significant contact with Garland's head.''

Soucy also will forfeit one game's pay, $23,706.90, and the money will go to the NHL's Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. The player safety department noted that Soucy had been neither fined nor suspended previously in his 80-game NHL career.

The Wild killed off Soucy's first-period penalty on the way to matching the franchise record with its eighth consecutive home victory.

"It goes by really slow when you're sitting in there [the penalty box] all by yourself and these guys are grinding out there,'' Soucy said, referring to the Wild's penalty killers. "I know [Ian Cole] took one right in the hand, but they sacrificed and obviously did a great job.''

The Coyotes took offense to Soucy's hit, and forward Lawson Crouse grabbed Soucy when he returned to the game, knocked him to the ice and began raining punches on him. Crouse was ejected for instigating the fight, while Soucy received five minutes for fighting.

"I would have liked a chance to be ready for it,'' Soucy said. "I understand he's sticking up for a teammate, but I'm not going to say no. … I would just like him to give me a chance to not be almost changing on the bench, but he's protecting his guy.''

Quick trip, then home

After its two-game jaunt to Colorado, the Wild returns to St. Paul for two games against Anaheim and one against St. Louis in a four-day stretch next week. Those will be the final three home games without fans. Beginning April 5 vs. Colorado, the team can have up to 3,000 in Xcel Energy Center, part of the state's easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

Forward Ryan Hartman wants the team to feed off energy from the fans.

"I know the year before I came here, it had a pretty bad record at home (16-18-7 in 2018-19) and that was a big thing that's talked about when I was signing here, was being a hard team to play against at home and making everyone dread coming here to Minnesota,'' Hartman said.

"We've played great, even last year, and through this stretch at the beginning of this year, we've been great at home and we want to continue that."

The Wild is 10-3 at home and 18-8-1 overall. Coach Dean Evason is eager for home spectators to see his team.

"So looking forward to having them even if it's 3,000 or whatever it's going to be,'' he said.

"We're jacked about getting started with them in the building for sure.''

Boldy up for Hobey

Boston College forward Matt Boldy, the Wild's first-round draft pick in 2019, was named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey's top player.

The sophomore leads the top-ranked Eagles in scoring with 10 goals and 20 assists in 21 games after collecting four assists in a 6-5 double-overtime loss to Massachusetts-Lowell on Wednesday in the Hockey East tournament semifinals..