Wild continues to roll despite turnstile of injuries

ST. PAUL -- It's a lonesome existence, pre-practice skates with no company save for the sound of a coach's whistle and 17,000 square feet of frozen hydrogen and oxygen.
Perhaps that's why Zach Parise has been grinning so much lately -- both before and after Thursday's morning skate, his first with the team since microdiscectomy surgery Oct. 24 to relieve pain in his leg, and again throughout Friday morning and early afternoon.

"It's nice to be with your teammates and not by yourself all the time," Parise said Friday after his first non-gameday practice since the operation. "It's been fun ... the last couple days to at least be around the room a lot more and be around the guys and with them on the ice. I enjoy being out there. I enjoy what I do, so it's exciting to be back."

The Wild's recent endeavors, and the resulting psychological boon in the Xcel Energy Center home dressing room, certainly don't hurt, either. The Wild has won six of its past seven games and is 12-4-1 since Nov. 9.
That's all without Parise. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon hasn't played since Nov. 25 due to a groin strain. And starting goalie Devan Dubnyk is week-to-week with a lower-body injury suffered Tuesday against Calgary.
"You've got to be ready for anything," said forward Charlie Coyle, who himself missed 16 games with a right fibula fracture earlier this season. "We have guys that are capable of stepping up, playing different roles, playing different positions and playing well together, creating that chemistry fairly quickly. I think we have a lot of interchangeable parts, which is good.
"Pretty unselfish team."
And that team is closer to getting even deeper.
Spurgeon
returned to practice Wednesday
and could play as soon as Saturday's 1 p.m. home matchup against his hometown Edmonton Oilers. Friday, coach Bruce Boudreau characterized the blueliner as a game-time decision.
Parise, meanwhile, continues to progress. The veteran winger
first resumed skating
on his own Nov. 29. He hasn't yet been cleared for contact but was hopeful that'll happen either before or during Minnesota's upcoming road trip to Chicago, Ottawa and Florida. The next step, Parise said, is improving his endurance and conditioning, then adding the physical element back into his practice regimen.
There haven't been any setbacks, Parise said. "There was times, especially right away, that I was expecting to get a shot of pain and it didn't happen," he said. "As you get more and more comfortable on the ice with those things, you feel like you can evolve more. You get more excited to do more things. I guess that's kind of the progress of recovery. It was slow at first, but I still understand that I can't rush it."
Parise was originally scheduled to return to play in 8-10 weeks following his operation. Tuesday, Dec. 19 represents the eight-week mark. He, Dubnyk and Spurgeon are all scheduled to make the upcoming road trip.
Until Dubnyk returns, it appears the lion's share of goaltending minutes
belongs to Alex Stalock
. There are no qualms there Boudreau said, after the St. Paul native helped Minnesota to a 4-2 win Sunday against San Jose, stopped 16 shots in relief of Dubnyk on Tuesday and earned Stalock's first NHL shutout in three years Thursday against Toronto.
It remains to be seen both how long Dubnyk is out and how well Stalock can sustain in extended time. But Boudreau said he's not worried -- to the point where Stalock could start both Saturday's matinee and the Wild's Sunday evening contest against the Blackhawks.
"He's an NHL goalie through and through," said Boudreau, who pointed out Stalock played 50 games last year for Iowa before earning a two-year contract with the Wild before this campaign. "I anticipate him doing a great job for us."
Success when shorthanded can come at a cost, however; Boudreau and general manager Chuck Fletcher still have a blue-line bottleneck with which to contend. With Spurgeon out but practicing, the Wild currently has eight defensemen on its NHL roster. Ryan Murphy, Mike Reilly, Gustav Olofsson and Nate Prosser have played well when dressed, but once Spurgeon returns, Minnesota will have to make at least one assignment hinges more on circumstance than lack of performance.
"I don't know what it is yet," Boudreau said Thursday during his postgame press conference. "It's difficult when they're all playing pretty good.
"That's what you have depth for. When you have a good minor league team and you've got guys that can come up, that makes you successful because you're all going to run into injuries and if you've got guys that can come up and compete and do the job then that's really good."
Boudreau's other recent moves have paid off, too. With a goal Thursday, forward Tyler Ennis followed Matt Cullen, Chris Stewart and Marcus Foligno's leads as healthy scratches who responded with notable performances their next time out.
"There's a lot of good character in that room," Boudreau said, "and they want to win. It's a tough thing to do in this league, but everybody seems to step up when it's their turn to step up."
It's that type of turnkey environment that has Parise and Spurgeon to eager rejoin the fold.
"They're doing well, and I think Jared and I really look forward to getting back and playing," Parise said. "We feel like we can help continue this team playing well and contribute. We'll make sure we're ready to play when that time comes; in the meantime, these guys are playing great."
Related Items:
- Watch: Parise addresses media after practice - Stalock's mobility a potential game-changer - Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 2, Leafs 0 - Spurgeon returns to practice