The Wild played almost a month without one of their top defensemen, but an absence that long also meant Jonas Brodin returned at full strength.
"I'm 100 percent," Brodin said after the Wild held off the Capitals 5-3 in a Sunday matinee at Xcel Energy Center. "I think I could've played a little bit earlier, I think, but we took it slow and just waited until I'm 100 percent. So, I think that was a good choice."
Brodin suited up after being idle for 12 consecutive games, a timeout to rest a nagging lower-body issue.
After initially getting hurt Feb. 6 at Arizona, Brodin missed only two games before he resurfaced in the lineup. He then rattled off six straight games, helping the Wild rebound from a three-game losing streak by going 4-1-1 to salvage a key seven-game homestand.
"It kept getting worse and worse," he said of the injury.
While he was out, the Wild didn't sag, extending their franchise-record point streak to 14 games before it was extinguished on Saturday with a 5-2 loss to Boston. In the end, they went 8-1-3 without Brodin.
"There was no rush to get back, I feel like," Brodin said. "It's nice to come back and still win."
Although the results didn't vary much while Brodin was out of commission, the team did.