Wild expect to know more about Joel Eriksson Ek's injury status before Game 4 vs. Dallas

The Wild expect to know more about Joel Eriksson Ek's status on Sunday after his return to action ended abruptly in Game 3.

Eriksson Ek took only one shift and played just 19 seconds on Friday night in the Wild's 5-1 win over the Stars at Xcel Energy Center before exiting. The center had been sidelined since April 6 due to a lower-body injury from blocking a shot.

"He's been fighting hard to come back so soon," goaltender Filip Gustavsson said. "That something happened to him that early, it's sad."

Coach Dean Evason said he didn't know if Eriksson Ek reinjured himself or playing was too painful. Eriksson Ek was still getting evaluated Saturday.

"Probably just drove a little harder than he had," Evason said. "He's obviously been doing stops and starts and skating agility stuff. It's just an unfortunate situation that hopefully isn't serious."

Before he could suit up, Eriksson Ek had to get cleared by doctors and checked out by the Wild's training staff. He'd been working out and skating, getting on the ice only nine days after suffering an injury that the team initially pegged as keeping him out week-to-week.

"Ultimately, the player has to make the decision," Evason said. "We don't push players to come back or hold players back. When they're ready, they're ready."

Twice now in the first round the Wild have executed their game plan; the one time they didn't was after a win.

That puts the Wild at a crossroads in Game 4 on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center: Will they turn the corner or follow a familiar path?

"It's a huge challenge," Evason said. "We played our game in Game 1 and then we don't. They do, and we get smashed [7-3 loss in Game 2]. Then we have an adjustment.

"We can't keep going like that. We have to play the same way over and over again consistently."

Game 4 flipped their series last year against St. Louis, the Wild ahead 2-1 before falling apart and dropping three in a row to get eliminated despite the Blues ushering in a cold goalie and dealing with injury issues.

"We've talked a lot about that, that we have to learn from those situations," Evason said. "Time will tell, but hopefully we have. Hopefully we've done the right things, at least in the two hockey games. We need to do it at least two more."

Mats Zuccarello and his line with Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman were front and center in Game 3, with Zuccarello capitalizing twice to snap a 15-game goalless drought that followed him into the postseason.

Hartman also scored and had two assists in his return from a lower-body injury that shelved him for Game 2.

"Obviously, it's nice to chip in and get a win, but it's the playoffs," Zuccarello said. "You want to contribute as always. But whoever scores, whoever gets it at the end, it doesn't really matter. We needed a win against a really good team. Now, we have to forget about this, and we have to move on because they're gonna come back stronger and we got to be ready to go."

The Wild announced that they will not renew the contracts of Iowa head coach Tim Army and assistants Nate DiCasmirro and Nolan Yonkman.

Army had coached Iowa since 2018. The team is coming off a 34-27-11 season in the American Hockey League that ended on Friday when Iowa lost its best-of-three, first-round series to Rockford in two games.