The Minnesota Wild feel a sense of urgency despite having nearly half a season left to play. After losing three in a row and four of their last five games, the Wild will look to turn things around on Monday afternoon against the host Colorado Avalanche in Denver.

I think the guys have really bought in and understand that we have to play a really strong team game,” said coach John Hynes. “When you have players out, then it’s incumbent on the guys that are

The Minnesota Wild placed Kirill Kaprizov on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) on Thursday, retroactive to Dec. 23 when he suffered his injury. The move, while removing the Russian forward from the Wild lineup, will also help the team navigate a cap crunch and address its injury-plagued lineup thanks to the cap relief LTIR provides.

Kaprizov has missed the past 10 games with a lower-body injury that has required lots of treatments and pushed-back timetables.

The Avalanche struck first when the Wild defense was caught flat-footed and Josh Manson’s long lead pass found Logan O’Connor unattended at the blue line. The Colorado forward ripped a low shot past Gustavsson before even four minutes had ticked off in the game.

The Minnesota Wild retroactively placed superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov on long-term injured ... it would seem unlikely he’s playing Monday at Colorado either. Marcus Johansson was also ...

This is the obvious one. Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL with 68 points, seven more than Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in second place. Also of note, he’s first in points per game at 1.58, narrowly ahead of the Art Ross winner last season, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov at 1.57.

The Minnesota Wild are off to a great start, currently, they are second in the Central division and have improved in basically every metric compared to last season. The only worry is the absence of Kirill Kaprizov and the concerns it could have on the rest of the season.

The Minnesota Wild are playing the Colorado Avalanche at 7:00 p.m. tonight. The Wild are riding a four-game win streak and come into today’s game after scoring at least four goals in each of the last four matches.

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Colorado Avalanche for their first season meeting on Thursday evening, Jan. 9. The Wild were still without Kirill Kaprizov, Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, and Jakub Lauko.

Although Kaprizov was a limited participant in Wednesday's morning skate, he'll be forced to miss a 10th consecutive game due to his lower-body injury. It's not yet clear when he'll be able to return to game action, but he's been trending in the right direction recently. His next chance to suit up will be Saturday in Nashville.