Short-handed Wild look for bounce-back performance vs. Sharks

Minnesota will continue to be short-handed when it visits the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night for the first game of back-to-back road contests for the Wild.

Kirill Kaprizov, who still leads Minnesota in goals (23) and assists (27) despite missing the past seven games with a lower-body injury, did not accompany the Wild on the trip.

Neither did defensemen Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber, who were injured in Minnesota's 6-4 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.

Faber left with an upper-body injury after getting elbowed by Jake Neighbours, and Brodin departed after he was hit on the right skate by a slap shot from Colton Parayko.

The Wild then saw their four-game winning streak snapped with a 6-1 loss to the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

"We can't make excuses," Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. "We've got to play without these guys for a little bit longer. So, next man up has to be the mentality."

The Wild also continue to be without defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who is expected to miss at least another week after the team captain sustained a lower-body injury when he was slew-footed by Zachary L'Heureux of the Nashville Predators on Dec. 31.

L'Heureux received a three-game suspension for the action.

The Wild didn't look like themselves against the Avalanche, giving up a goal 3:46 into the game and then four straight over the final 27 minutes.

"That wasn't us," Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton said. "That's just not what we do and not how we come prepared to play."

The Wild have been in San Jose waiting for the Sharks, who were in Salt Lake City on Friday for a matchup with the Utah Hockey Club.

San Jose was two minutes away from securing at least a point before surrendering a goal to Barrett Hayton with 1:32 left in the third period. The Sharks failed to take advantage of a power play over the final 56 seconds after William Eklund was bloodied by the high stick of Kevin Stenlund, even after pulling goalie Alexandar Georgiev for the two-man advantage.

The Sharks lost 2-1 for their second straight defeat following a two-game winning streak.

"We didn't really get anything going offensively all night and they defended well, but we've got to be better with the puck," San Jose forward Mikael Granlund said. "We've got to win some battles and sustain some momentum."

Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was more direct.

"Puck play was awful. Just wasn't enough," he said. "Definitely got to learn from it."

On the game-winning goal by Hayton, he was stopped from in close on back-to-back tries by Georgiev. Hayton, however, recovered the puck in the corner and then circled around the top of the right circle before finding an open lane to fire a shot into the net.

"We lose coverage, and then we let a guy get to the middle of the ice, which you don't want to do," Warsofsky said.

Sharks left wing Fabian Zetterlund appeared to be injured during a post-game scrum. Warsofsky told reporters after the game that he had not yet spoken with the trainers regarding Zetterlund.

Sharks forward Klim Kostin also sustained a lower-body injury during the first period and did not return. Warsofsky did not give an update on Klostin.

--Field Level Media