And the clearest signal that Kaprizov and Spurgeon would be back is that the Wild reassigned defenseman David Jiricek two hours after practice. If you did the salary cap math, it really was the only option to get below the cap ceiling once Kaprizov is activated from LTIR.

BOTTOM LINE: Central Division opponents meet when the Minnesota Wild play the Utah Hockey Club. Minnesota has gone 28-15-4 overall with a 10-6-2 record in Central Division play. The Wild are 26-2-2 when scoring three or more goals.

Zuccarello posted a power-play assist and two hits in Saturday's 6-2 loss to the Predators.

Utah continues the road trip tomorrow with a rematch against the Winnipeg Jets. Tomorrow’s game at Canada Life Centre will be the third meeting of the season between the teams after Winnipeg defeated Utah 3-0 on Nov. 5, and Utah returned the favor 5-2 on Jan. 20. Tomorrow’s puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT.

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.

SAN JOSE — Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves, Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy scored, and the short-handed Minnesota Wild beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Saturday night.

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.

With a little over a minute left in the second period, Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon made the Wild look silly when he deked Trenin and tied the game with his 18th goal of the season. It came on just the Avalanche's 11th shot on goal in two periods.

The Minnesota Wild, including Mats Zuccarello, will be in action Monday versus the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena, beginning at 3:00 PM ET. Considering a bet on Zuccarello in the Wild-Avalanche game?