Wild notes: Ballard returns; inconsistent Prosser scratched

MONTREAL – Keith Ballard hadn't played in three weeks, Matt Dumba had been erratic and Nate Prosser had been partly responsible for many goals against lately.

Those were the factors coach Mike Yeo had to consider when deciding the Wild's lineup on the blue line Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

In the end, Ballard returned, Dumba stayed in the lineup and Prosser was scratched. In recent games, Prosser was on the ice for Ottawa's power-play goal, made the mistakes that led to goals by Brandon Sutter and Joe Thornton against Pittsburgh and San Jose and was on for all three goals against in Boston.

"He's not quite there right now," Yeo said before Saturday's loss to the Canadiens. "What we're looking for from Pross is reliability and making sure goals aren't going in the net when he's on the ice. I'm not pinning that on him right now, but at the same time, his game is not quite there."

Yeo knows Dumba's game has been up and down, but with Jared Spurgeon's absence creating a power-play void and the Wild's power play ranked 29th in the NHL, Yeo said it was hard to take out Dumba when he was averaging 3.4 shots over the previous five games.

Yeo said it's also about Dumba's development and the fact that if he's going to stay with the Wild right now, he has to experience intimidating environments such as Montreal.

In addition, "Part of when you're making up a lineup, you have to make sure your lineup is prepared for the type of game it's going to be, and this is going to be a skating game."

Ballard played his second game of the season and first since Oct. 17 after missing the previous eight games with an illness.

"I'm getting better every day and have gotten through whatever the coaches have thrown at me," Ballard said. "It's just good to start getting my energy back."

Thomas Vanek, traded to Montreal from Buffalo at last year's deadline, returned to the Bell Centre with only one goal in 12 games with the Wild. He got off to a good start with the Canadiens, but in the Eastern Conference finals against the Rangers, he was demoted to the fourth line and nearly scratched because his play was so shoddy.

"I can't look back and regret it and be mad at [Canadiens coach Michel Therrien]," Vanek said. "He's the head coach. He makes his choices."

Vanek said part of his struggles in Minnesota is "I've pretty much played with every forward here."

• It had been a hectic few days for Wild center Kyle Brodziak, whose wife gave birth to their second child, Leo Dino, at 5 p.m. Wednesday. At 5 p.m. Thursday, on little sleep, Brodziak took two regional jets to Ottawa, arrived in the afternoon and played that night against the Senators. "It's been a whirlwind," Brodziak said. "But I'm very appreciative to [GM Chuck Fletcher] and the organization for letting me stay behind with my wife. It does stink, though, because right now you'd rather be home experiencing the first few days of my child's life, but that's part of it."