The Minnesota Wild were three goals up and the building was loud when Nico Sturm went down in the first period on Monday. It stopped being loud immediately.
A Jared Spurgeon slap shot had struck Sturm on the right side of his helmet, an entirely accidental collision between teammates. The 31-year-old dropped to the ice and was tended to by medical staff before skating off slowly with assistance from Michael McCarron. The club announced shortly afterwards that he wouldn’t return, and he was taken to hospital for precautionary evaluation.
John Hynes was able to offer some reassurance later.
Sturm had gone to the hospital but was doing okay, Hynes said, describing the trip as precautionary. He also said the arena had fallen completely silent when it happened.
Why were the Wild thinking about Brock Faber?
McCarron, the player who helped Sturm off the ice, admitted afterwards that his mind had gone straight to a teammate who went through something similar only weeks ago. Brock Faber was struck in the head by a puck during the preseason, returned to finish the period, then began feeling discomfort and was sent to hospital himself. He hasn’t played since.
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Faber was actually in the building on Monday, having visited the team at the rink earlier in the day and stayed for the game. Hynes said he has another medical evaluation coming shortly and has made “lots of good progress.”
“He’s doing really good,” Hynes said. “He’s in good spirits.”
Minnesota is managing without a fair number of bodies. Both Marcus Foligno and Nick Foligno are sidelined, which is why Sturm had been filling in on the fourth line, and goaltender Filip Gustavsson is still working his way back from offseason hip surgery.
They are 4-1-1 regardless after Monday’s 4-2 win over Vegas.
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