Suter returns to Dallas for first time since gruesome ankle injury

After he wouldn't watch replays of his gruesome ankle injury, Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said he has finally watched "clips" of that April night in Dallas.

"There's nothing really to watch," Suter said. "I hit my foot on the boards and it broke."

But it wasn't quite that simple. Suter's fractured ankle, which he injured after crashing into the board at American Airlines Center, torpedoed the Wild's chances in last season's playoff series against the Jets. As he returned to the scene of the incident Friday, Suter said he is still trying to get over some of the hesitation he feels during similar plays near the boards.

"At different points going back for pucks I try not to put myself in that situation quite yet," Suter said. "That play probably happens five or 10 times [per game]. It's hard to get around it. You're a little more hesitant. You think about it a little bit more. Hopefully, soon that won't be on my mind."

It hasn't stopped Suter from consuming his share of minutes — he again leads the Wild at 26:12 per game and senses he is improving with each game.

"The first couple of games I was hesitating when I should've been jumping," Suter said. "I still think I need to continue to improve and get better with getting to guys quicker and checking a little faster. From where I was five months ago to where I am now, I'm pretty happy."

On Thursday, winger Marcus Foligno said he didn't think he'd be able to play in Friday's game because of a stomach illness that kept him out of Tuesday's game.

"I think it was a 24-hour bug that a lot of us get especially this time of the season," Foligno said.

"Hopefully, this is something that gets out of my system now and doesn't come back later on."

Foligno said he was bundled under blankets on the team flight and joked that "I don't think guys saw me until we landed in Dallas."

It was all but of a mini-quarantine in an attempt to prevent his illness from spreading to his teammates and coaches.

Dallas always will be a special place to defenseman Greg Pateryn. It's where Pateryn saw his game grow to the point where he had his best season a year ago. Pateryn played in a career-high 73 games with the Stars when he had played no more than 38 in his previous years as a pro.

"It has always been an upstream battle for me," Pateryn said. "That's how it's been my whole life. A little more adversity I had to handle, but it paid off. …