UPDATE 3:55 P.M.
Horrible news for the Minnesota Wild as the club announced this afternoon that captain Mikko Koivu suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee and will miss the remainder of the season.
Koivu was injured in a collision with Buffalo’s Tage Thompson during the first period of Minnesota’s 5-4 loss to the Sabres on Tuesday night.
The 35-year-old will undergo surgery on Friday.
Original story
Another dose of bad luck for the Minnesota Wild as they lost Mikko Koivu to an injury and then lost in a shootout, 5-4, to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Zach Parise scored the game-tying goal with 1:37 left in the third period – the third time the Wild rallied to tie the score – but an rough shootout effort ended a chance to pick up two points in the standings. Instead, they settled for one point and are now 0-2-1 since returning from the All-Star break.
Koivu was injured midway through the first period as he brought the puck up the center of the ice and collided with Buffalo’s Tage Thompson. Koivu went down and didn’t return. An update on his injury wasn’t provided after the game, but he was on crutches after the game.
The Koivu collision pic.twitter.com/YieR5Up2sz
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) February 6, 2019
In the shootout, the Wild went scoreless and Sam Reinhart snuck one past Devan Dubnyk for Buffalo’s only successful attempt. The shootout was stained with a sloppy attempt by Wild center Victor Rask, who lost control of the puck and never got a shot off.
Victor Rask shootout attempt dot gif pic.twitter.com/EodnQomU9m
— Giles Ferrell (@gilesferrell) February 6, 2019
With 29 games to go, the Wild (57 points) are still in control of the second wild card in the Western Conference playoff race. The bad news is that Dallas has moved three points in front of Minnesota for third place in the Central Division and the St. Louis Blues’ three straight wins have them within three points of Minnesota.
Luke Kunin replaced Koivu on a line with Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle, and it’s possible that Minnesota recalls Joel Eriksson Ek from the Iowa Wild in time for Thursday’s home game against Edmonton.
