Parise, Dubnyk miss Wild practice; Pominville could return Thursday

Zach Parise, who has been battling an upper body injury, sat out Wild practice today as did goalie Devan Dubnyk. Coach John Torchetti said it was "maintainance" in both cases. Both guys were in the team picture that preceeded practice and, like everyone else, had winning smiles for the camera.

The Wild's 2-1 victory over Los Angeles at the X on Tuesday night was not pretty for the home team, as Russo pointed out here and here. Chip Scoggins' column was on Dubnyk's steal of a game (38 saves) the Kings dominated at times.

Jason Pominville skated on the right wing of Erik Haula's line with Nino Niederreiter at practice, so it seems likely Pominville will be back in the lineup on Thursday against Calgary at the X after missing time because of a groin injury.

"It was a full practice, not a morning skate, so we'll go from there," Pominville said, and was then asked if he would play Thursday. "I have no idea, I'm sure it's something well talk about, but it felt good, haven't had any pain, felt pretty good, so we'll see tomorrow."

Said Torchetti: "Pommy looked good today and we'll see how he feels tomorrow and then after morning skate, make a call."

Thomas Vanek, who has been benched the past three games, skated in Parise's spot on the Mikael Granlund-David Jones line, but there were no indications Vanek would be back in the lineup on Thursday.

As for Tuesday's victory, Torchetti was philosophical.

Wild has a one-point lead on Colorado (which has a game in hand) for the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Avs play host to Philadelphia on Thursday before a much anticipated game against the visiting Wild on Saturday.

"We all know that game is going to be important for us, but we have to focus on what we have to do tomorrow and go from there," Pominville said. "Every game for us from here on out is going to be important and we can't look past any of them."

Update: The Wild has signed WCHA player of the year Alex Petan of Michigan Tech. The 23-year-old undrafted forward will report to Iowa of the AHL on amateur tryout contract. Petan, who is 5-9, is a bit undersized but said to have great hands. His younger brother, Nic, plays for Winnipeg.

That's it from the bowels of the X. Russo spent the morning working on a Niklas Backstrom feature that'll be a must read. The former Wild goalie (Backstrom, not Russo) has the net for the Flames on Thursday, and crashed the Wild practice this morning to say hello to former teammates. His ex-teammates spoke glowingly of him in the room today, natch.

Backstrom, who was the winning goalie in Montreal on Sunday, has been at his Edina home with his wife and kids since the Flames arrived in Minnesota after Monday's game in Toronto.