UPDATED:
Join me at noon today on startribune.com for a live Wild chat.
The Wild could be down four top-6 forwards.
I just watched the replay of last night's game trying to figure out why captain Mikko Koivu, whose 25 shootout goals are three from the most all-time in the NHL, was not in the shootout last night.
I watched all his third period shifts and overtime shifts, and it's clear to me that on his last shift of overtime, Koivu got injured.
It was Koivu who hit Marco Scandella with the breakout pass that led to Scandella's scoring chance. Koivu looks fine as he's slapping his stick on the ice in the slot looking for a pass from Scandella as he circled the back of the net. After Dany Heatley's rebound, Marian Hossa takes off on a 2-on-1 with Nick Leddy.
As Koivu's chasing it down, he clearly pulls up with some kind of leg injury around center ice right after being slightly grazed by Patrick Sharp. Koivu looked like he was feeling something right before though. Koivu skates to the corner, collides again with Hossa and you can see he's in real discomfort as he drags himself to the bench.
As of now, the Wild's not saying what's wrong, but it has confirmed to me he did get hurt, that it doesn't think it's too serious and that he is going to see the docs today.
