Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon were full participants during practice and seem likely to return to the lineup on Thursday. Kaprizov, 27, has missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was in line rushes with Mats Zuccarello and Marco Rossi so all signs point to him returning to the lineup.

The Wild look to have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon back in their lineup Thursday against Utah.

THROUGH GAMES OF WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22, 2025

It has been two months since we did a Wild mailbag and several months since we did an ‘Ask Russo and Smith’ mailbag, but with Joe back on the clock, there’s no better time to answer many of your questions.

The Minnesota Wild (27-15-4) are back in action tonight for one more game on the road before they return home. They will face the Colorado Avalanche (28-18-1) today for a 2:00 p.m. central time start.

The Predators, meanwhile, seek just their second three-game winning streak this season. After falling 4-1 to the Washington Capitals last Saturday to start a five-game homestand, coach Andrew Brunette's team beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 on Tuesday and followed it up with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

Spurgeon (lower body) will not be on the Wild's upcoming two-game road trip, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Spurgeon has been out of action since Dec. 31 when he was hurt versus Nashville.

Matt Boldy's power-play goal 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the third period cut it back down to a two-goal game, but Forsberg scored his second of the night unassisted 16 minutes, 20 seconds into the frame, and Brady Skjei scored an empty-netter with 1 minute, 49 seconds remaining to put the finishing touches on a Predators victory.

The Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators met for the third time this season and the first in Nashville on Saturday, Jan. 18. The Wild had a boost to their lineup on the injury front as they got both Jakub Lauko and Brock Faber back,

Bill Guerin might have been a little too honest at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. "I rarely bring this up, but I'm going to bring it up today because it's real and it's important," Guerin said.

L'Heureux was called for a slew-foot on Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who suffered an injury on the play and has missed the past eight games. L'Heureux was suspended three games for the play ...