ST. PAUL, Minn. — Considering all the injuries the Wild have faced recently, the sight of Brock Faber skating gingerly off the ice midway through the first period Tuesday must had an eerie feel.
Faber left the game with what the team called an upper-body injury and didn’t return.
His last shift, coming with 9:52 left in the first, ended relatively innocently and innocuously. He got tangled with Pavel Buchnevich in the corner, came back to the front of the net with the Blues winger and then skated slowly to the bench and down the tunnel. Coach John Hynes did not provide an update postgame on Faber.
Jake Middleton is back. Tie ballgame 4-4 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/lZXjfYYd7g
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 8, 2025
Faber had logged 62 minutes, two seconds in the previous two games, carrying a larger load with both Jared Spurgeon and Jake Middleton out. He had played in 125 straight games to start his career, including two months late last season while dealing with broken ribs.
With Faber out, the Wild rallied behind him for a wacky, 6-4 victory. Middleton had a goal and an assist in his return, Jonas Brodin played a career-high in minutes (33:02). Zach Bogosian was a beast all night, including coming up with a big-time block in the final couple minutes. Minnesota blew a 2-0 lead and then St. Louis blew a 4-2 lead, with Matt Boldy scoring the winner early in the third on a two-on-one.
It was another character win for a Wild season full of them.
Middleton’s busy return
Middleton did a little bit of everything in his first game back.
He picked up an assist on his first shift, a goal by Bogosian.
He got sprung for a breakaway later in the first, fanning on his own rebound.
He ended up playing the right side often after Faber got hurt.
Then there was his heroics. Middleton scored the game-tying goal just over a minute into the third period, sliding into the left circle and burying a cross-zone pass from Mats Zuccarello. Middleton, out since breaking a finger on his right hand in mid-December, got back quicker than some thought. And it looked like he never left.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, HE’S BACK ‼️ pic.twitter.com/9Lpf7qXA4b
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 8, 2025
Fleury’s rare ‘W’ in relief
There have been very few rough nights for Filip Gustavsson in this Vezina Trophy-caliber season.
But when Gustavsson got pulled in Tuesday’s second period, Marc-Andre Fleury had his back.
Gustavsson gave up four goals on 18 shots before getting yanked about five minutes into the second period. This wasn’t all on Gustavsson, but the Wild needed a spark, too, after a 2-0 lead turned into a 4-2 deficit. Fleury shut it down from there, including a third period where the Blues spent most of the time in the Wild zone. Of Fleury’s saves, his biggest one was a windmill, glove stop on Dylan Holloway midway through the third period.
we are getting the full marc-andre fleury experience tonight pic.twitter.com/RGRoNYb4RZ
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 8, 2025
For Fleury, it was just his sixth win in relief out of 569 career wins (three coming with the Penguins, three with the Wild). He’s made 163 career relief appearances.
Wild sign fifth goalie to organization
The Wild ripped up Dylan Ferguson’s AHL deal and turned it into an NHL deal for the rest of the season Tuesday.
With Jesper Wallstedt in St. Paul rehabbing what is said to be a minor lower-body injury, the Wild needed a goalie on a $775,000 contract to call up in case there’s an injury to Gustavsson or Fleury. It’s something the Wild have been thinking about ever since Troy Grosenick tore his ACL before the season and now was the right time with Wallstedt banged up.
Ferguson, 26, is 3-4 with a 3.30 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage in seven starts for Iowa.
In other injury news, Kaprizov missed his sixth game in a row with a lower-body injury. He has yet to start skating but is said to be getting closer. He has left town a few times in the past two weeks to be seen and treated by a specialist. Jakub Lauko is getting closer to a return.
(Photo: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
