Just as a Wild player returns from injury, another gets sidelined with one.
Winger Mats Zuccarello will be back in the lineup Tuesday when the Wild hosts the Oilers at Xcel Energy Center, but winger Kevin Fiala won't be playing.
He's day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
"He's a great puck handler, and he's a distributor and we need to have it," coach Bruce Boudreau said of Zuccarello. "There's a reason he was sought after [during free agency] in the summer. A lot of our players have started off slow, but it's that time now that our best players have to be our best players and he's gotta do it."
Zuccarello missed the last four games with a lower-body injury.
To activate him from injured reserve ahead of the game, the Wild will have to move someone else to injured reserve. Centers Joel Eriksson Ek and Victor Rask are also dealing with lower-body injuries.
The Wild is coming off only its second win of the season, a 4-3 rally over the Canadiens Sunday at home.
Building off that success will require the Wild to tame an upstart Oilers squad that is 7-1-1.
