Wild notes: Yeo eases Niederreiter into bigger roles

Of the NHL's top 20 goal scorers, the Wild's Nino Niederreiter is tied for ninth with 14 goals. Yet, of those 20 scorers, Nieder­reiter is averaging the lowest average ice time per game (14 minutes, 18 seconds per game).

Niederreiter's ice time, which ranks eighth among Wild forwards, continues to be a topic with Wild fans and the media.

"Are we saying he'd have 30 [goals] right now [with more ice time]?" coach Mike Yeo said. "You could argue that he might have a lot more or you might argue that we're doing a pretty good job with him right now, too."

Yeo equated the way he is treating Niederreiter with the way he has treated Jason Zucker the past two seasons. Zucker's game defensively has improved dramatically, plus he has a career-high 11 goals in 30 games.

"It's easy to point to the one good thing that happens during the game," Yeo said. "We look at the game as a whole, and I want to make sure [Nieder­reiter's] developing. And if there's other parts of his game, little parts of his game, we might not like it right now, but I'm going to keep pushing him to get better, because a year or two years from now, we have to make sure we're strengthening him up to be a real, real solid player."

Niederreiter, who has 14 goals in 30 games after 14 in 81 games last season, is a team-worst minus-6. Yeo wants Niederreiter, who can skate and has a big frame, to improve defensively so he can trust him putting him on the ice against top opposing forwards in critical situations.

Niederreiter is getting better, has played more on the penalty kill and leads the Wild with five power-play goals.

Yeo said the two penalties that were taken late in the third came directly before shifts Niederreiter on which was due out. Also, Niederreiter was scheduled to go out with the goalie pulled, but some players extended their shifts, Yeo said.

Yeo also said he planned to use Niederreiter if the game got to a shootout, presumably for Jason Pominville. Similarly, if the Arizona shootout on Saturday got to Round 3, Yeo said Zucker, who scored on a breakaway in that game, was next up.

With a stomach bug affecting the Wild, defenseman Jared Spurgeon was able to return Wednesday against Boston after missing two games. Goalie Darcy Kuemper was kept away from the team and John Curry was recalled to back up Niklas Backstrom.

Yeo was excited to get Spurgeon back. It was only the fourth time in 23 games that the Wild had a lineup that featured top-four defensemen Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella and Spurgeon.

"It's been a factor in us not being able to grab some traction," Yeo said. "There's been some good things, but there's probably been more frustration than anything else right now, and I think a big part of that is that defensive group, what they mean to us in terms of our offense, in terms of our execution, helping to alleviate pressure, helping to get the puck up to our forwards and how they defend, their gap control. I think that's been very noticeable since we haven't had them all intact."