SAN JOSE - Wild defenseman Marco Scandella has been suspended two games for an illegal check to Brock Nelson's head Tuesday night.
In the NHL video which can be seen here, the league says the main point of contact was Nelson's head, that his jaw absorbed the brunt of it, that head contact was avoidable and it noted how Scandella was just fined for a similar hit on T.J. Oshie 10 days ago.
Scandella loses $11,021.50 in salary (two days pay out of 186 days this season). If he's suspended again in the next 18 months, he'll lose game checks.
Christian Folin will draw into the game Thursday at San Jose and so will Justin Falk. Asked why Falk over Matt Dumba or Jon Blum, coach Mike Yeo said with the injured Keith Ballard and Scandella out, the Wild loses two left-shot defensemen. With San Jose and Arizona (Saturday's opponent) heavy teams, having a big body that can skate and shoot was the deciding factor.
It sounds like Darcy Kuemper will return to the net Thursday even though Niklas Backstrom was in the cage for Tuesday's comeback win over the Islanders.
"Still discussing that a little bit. We'll wait 'til [Thursday] to announce our decision," Yeo said. "Looking at a couple different decisions – the opponent that we're playing, Backy coming off a game that he should feel rea; good about, he should feel real good about and we'll evaluate everything.
