Wild's top defender Bergeron will sit for weeks

Reed Saxon, Associated Press

Wild defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron will miss a significant amount of time because of a lower body injury.

The Wild defenseman suffered a lower body injury against the Islanders.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: December 23, 2008 - 7:26 AM

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With the Wild trying to get out of a month-long slump, word came Monday that it will be without defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron for a significant time.

While center Eric Belanger, the Wild's fourth-leading scorer with 18 points, returned to practice after missing two games and will play tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, Wild assistant GM Tom Lynn said Bergeron, who suffered a "lower body" injury, will be out for "a matter of weeks, not days."

Lynn didn't want to give a specific timetable, but it certainly will be well into January before Bergeron returns. "He's limping around pretty good," Lynn said.

Bergeron, who leads the Wild's blue-liners with 16 points, was injured late in the third period Friday against the Islanders and will be replaced by Erik Reitz, a physical defenseman who has played 25 games.

As for Belanger, he said Monday he had pneumonia, but he thought it was worse. "I'm not dying. I thought I was, but I'm not," Belanger said. "I thought I had a heart attack."

On Wednesday, Belanger said he woke up with chest pain. It got worse through the day, but he decided to play against Calgary.

"It was one of the toughest games I've ever played," Belanger said. "It was hard to get through, especially breathing, and then after the game, it kept getting worse and worse. It was so bad during the night, I went to the hospital. I thought I was having a heart attack or had broken ribs."

After X-rays and other tests proved negative for both, Belanger was given a shot of morphine and sent home.

"But after it wore off, I started feeling it again," Belanger said. "They finally did a scan and found out what was wrong. I had inflammation in my lungs."

Wild doctor Daniel Peterson gave Belanger daily shots of antibiotics, and he started to feel back to normal Sunday.

"It was pretty scary," Belanger said.

Gaborik 'managing' injury

Lynn acknowledged Monday that Marian Gaborik is playing through discomfort and "is going to be managing his comeback for at least a month according to his pain level and soreness."

"So if he takes a practice off or has a shorter practice at times, it's just to be expected right now, similar to [Pavol] Demitra last year," Lynn said. "When you have an endemic thing, like Demitra had with his groins, Jacques [Lemaire] gave him a practice off every six or seven.

"So if you see that with Gaborik, don't panic like it's a setback."

Burns works a little OT

Trying to rediscover his booming one-timer and wrist shot, Brent Burns, back on defense after six weeks at wing, worked long after practice with assistant coaches Mike Ramsey and Matt Shaw.

"I couldn't even tell you what's going on in my mind right now," Burns said. "I just wanted to work on my shot."

As for Burns' play, Lemaire wants Burns to "not do too much."

"All these people that were saying, 'He's better on defense, he's going to get his points,' yeah he's getting points -- against," Lemaire said. "He wants to beat people and carry the puck.

"I saw him twice in the last game trying to beat five guys. ... There's always one that's going to stop you out of five.

"When you come back in your zone, you have to be tired. You have to. It happened on one play they didn't score. Burns was having a rest -- in the zone, at the hash marks -- because he was half-dead."