Suter sits out for first time as a Wild player

For the first time since the July 4, 2012, signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the Wild played a game without Suter in the lineup.

Suter couldn't dress against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday because he was ill.

"We're hoping it's just illness," said coach Mike Yeo, alluding that the team fears Suter could be the latest defenseman to be stricken by the mumps. Yeo said Suter, as of Wednesday morning at least, had not developed the classic mumps symptom of swollen facial glands, but "there's a couple symptoms that he has that would make us concerned that it could be it."

The Wild was awaiting results of blood work. Defensemen Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Keith Ballard and Christian Folin have had the mumps this season, a virus that also has affected players on the St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers.

All Wild players, coaches and staff were offered mumps boosters Nov. 13-16 because childhood vaccines become less effective over time.

"It's a tough one because we're losing key guys and we're losing them for more than a couple days," Yeo said. "I've never seen anything like this where it's contagious and you're kind of worried it's going to be passed on to somebody else."

Suter, who leads Wild defensemen with 13 points and the team with a plus-10 rating, logged more minutes than any NHLer the past two seasons and is leading again in ice time per game this season (29 minutes, 19 seconds).

Suter had played in 171 consecutive regular-season and playoff games with the Wild, leading the team in ice time in 163 (95.3 percent).

The Wild leaned heavily on Jared Spurgeon, Scandella and Brodin against the Canadiens. Brodin, Suter's normal partner, moved to the left side and was paired with Folin, who was recalled from AHL Iowa. Defenseman Justin Falk was sent back to Iowa before the game.

Earlier this season, Spurgeon missed five games because of a shoulder injury. Scandella missed two because of the mumps and Brodin nine because of the mumps and injury.

"We've really been missing at least one of our top-four [defensemen] for a good chunk of the year," Yeo said. "These guys eat up a lot of minutes, play special teams, but they're also a huge part of our execution, a huge part of getting the puck to our forwards and creating offense."

Since being assigned to Iowa on Nov. 14, Folin had four points and was plus-1 in eight games.

Folin said it was fun playing 30 minutes a night for Iowa and even scoring a couple of goals.

"I like to shoot the puck, and it was fun when the puck went in finally and to get my first professional goal out of the way," said Folin, adding that the AHL is "not as controlled, so there's guys coming from everywhere. It was like going back to college that way. But it was fun. I just liked being on the ice more."

Folin had an assist, drew a major power play and was plus-2 Wednesday.

With the death of Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau on Tuesday night and the funeral of former North Stars coach and player Murray Oliver on Wednesday, the Wild held a moment of silence to honor both before Wednesday's game. All Canadiens players donned Beliveau's No. 4 on their helmets Wednesday.