LAS VEGAS – Zach Parise has missed games before in his nine seasons with the Wild, sitting out with injury, illness and after his father, J.P., died in 2015.
But on Wednesday, he was watching for a brand-new reason.
The Wild made Parise a healthy scratch for the first time because of his play, a botched shift in the 5-4 overtime loss to the Golden Knights on Monday that amplified a rough season for the 36-year-old winger.
"It was disappointing, and I don't agree with the decision," Parise said. "In my heart, I felt like I was doing the right thing."
In the waning seconds of the third period in Monday's game, Parise was on the ice with winger Marcus Foligno, and told Foligno ahead of time he would feed Foligno for a shot at an empty net so Foligno could get his first career hat trick.
But the shot never came, and Foligno went for a line change. Parise didn't. And after a pass in the Wild's zone got tipped by Parise's stick, Mark Stone scooped up the bouncing puck and set up Alex Tuch for the game-tying goal with 42 seconds to go.
"I didn't think it'd be a good idea for me to change, too," said Parise, whose shift ended up being 1 minute, 33 seconds. "So I stayed out there. And unfortunately, it was the ultimate backfire that they ended up tying the game. But I know in my heart I had the best of intentions to help Marcus try to get the hat trick, and unfortunately it ended the way it did and here we are.
"But after our meeting, I talked to the team about it [Tuesday] and they are 100 percent behind me and have my back and that's what matters."