After having played three straight games that went into shootouts, Wild coach Mike Yeo ran a very brief practice at Xcel Energy Center Wednesday.

"We've had a pretty busy schedule lately," Yeo said, "a lot of games crammed into a short period of time, and they all seemed to be going extra time, too. So we just wanted to get out there and execute a little bit, feel the puck and make sure we saved something for tomorrow."

Greetings. Kent Youngblood here. I was at practice today. Mr. Russo will be back tomorrow.

Not a ton going on today. Neither Mikko Koivu nor Clayton Stoner were on the ice today. For Koivu, it was a maintenance day. Stoner, though, went to see the doctor after sustaining -- and then playing through -- an upper body injury in the Wild's game at Nashville Tuesday.

Yeo made it sound as if he expected Stoner to play against Chicago here tomorrow. If for whatever reason Stoner cannot play, the team would make an emergency call-up for a defenseman.

Meanwhile, Kyle Brodziak was back on the ice for practice, stitches and all, after taking a skate to the face in Nashville.

"He's a little bruised," Yeo said. "There's a nasty cut there. One thing about Brodzie is he's tough. Not tough as in he's going to get in 15 fights a year. Tough as in you see him block shots. You see times when he comes off the ice and he's hurt. Then, 30 seconds later, he's back and hasn't missed a shift. He's a real tough hockey player."

Yeo said he expects Brodziak to wear the full-sized visor for the final two games.

That's about it for now. Have a good afternoon.