DENVER (AP) — Minnesota’s hockey team faces a challenging start to their playoff series against Colorado, as they’ll compete without two crucial players during the opening matchups due to injury concerns.
Forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin will both miss the initial two contests of the second-round playoff battle against the Avalanche after sustaining lower-body injuries. The pair remained behind instead of traveling with their teammates to Denver.
Wild head coach John Hynes indicated the team continues “making a couple decisions on the lineup” before Sunday night’s opening game.
Colorado also deals with roster challenges, as defenseman Josh Manson remains sidelined with an upper-body injury that kept him out of last Sunday’s series-ending victory over Los Angeles. Avalanche coach Jared Bednar announced that Nick Blankenburg will step into Manson’s role. Colorado obtained Blankenburg through a trade with Nashville on March 4.
“He’s played good in the time he’s been with us,” Bednar commented. “We got him for a reason — like the way he moves, like the way he moves the puck. He plays with a little bite. He’s got to stay within himself. It’s going to be a challenge for him tonight, because the thing we’ll miss with (Manson) is the size, the strength, the physicality.”
Eriksson Ek contributed significantly during Minnesota’s first-round victory over Dallas, recording three goals and two assists while achieving a 56.4% success rate on faceoffs. Potential replacements include Danila Yurov and Hunter Haight.
“Ekky’s a big part of the team,” Hynes explained. “When you lose a guy that plays that many situations, you have to do it collectively as a group, and it’s not all on one guy.”
Brodin was already absent for Game 6 against Dallas due to his injury.
Hynes noted that with the extended break between the second and third games — teams compete Tuesday before a Saturday restart — “both those guys will be reevaluated and see where it goes from there.”
