LAS VEGAS – Wild forwards Zach Parise and Joel Eriksson Ek are considered game-time decisions Friday against the Golden Knights, but it looks like only one of the two will return.
Parise was on the ice late during the team's morning skate, still working out inside T-Mobile Arena into the afternoon. Meanwhile, winger Matt Read came off early – a sign he could be the one to slot into the lineup in Parise's absence.
Read cleared waivers Friday, but the Wild is planning to keep him around for now.
For Parise, this would be the third straight game he's missed due to a lower-body injury while Eriksson Ek sat out the previous seven with a lower-body injury.
"It's never fun to be on the side and be out with an injury," Eriksson Ek said. "But it's going to be fun to play."
This is a potentially season-defining game for the Wild.
With 79 points, the team is two behind Arizona and four shy of Colorado for the second wild card berth in the Western Conference. Those teams play against each other Friday, a matchup that guarantees at least one – perhaps two – of the teams the Wild is chasing will gain points.
"I just told them this morning that if I have to tell you anything, I have the wrong guys playing tonight," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "This is hockey. They know where we stand, what the situation is. The self-preparation going into this game, if I have to sit there in a morning talk and get you up for the game, we're beat before we start. So I hope we're ready to go."
