ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild's Monday victory was a costly one.
Minnesota placed forwards Jason Zucker and Ryan Carter on injured reserve on Tuesday with upper-body injuries. Zucker and Carter were injured in the first period of the Wild's 5-3 win against Vancouver on Monday in which Minnesota climbed within three points of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Head coach Mike Yeo didn't have much of an update on Zucker or Carter after the game. "We should not expect them back in the lineup in the near future anyway," Yeo said.
The Wild recalled forward Brett Sutter and defenseman Stu Bickel from Iowa of the American Hockey League for reinforcements as Minnesota travels for the second game of a back-to-back situation Tuesday night at Winnipeg. Forward Justin Fontaine, who was activated off injured reserve on Monday, could reinsert into the lineup, as well.
Zucker is second on the team with 18 goals this season, while Carter had 13 points. Both forwards were key penalty killers for the Wild.
"Luckily we did one thing well and that was stay out of the box until the end of the game," Yeo said after Monday's win. "But even at the end of the game we saw Zach (Parise) out there killing. So when that happens, you need guys to step up and we had a number of guys step up tonight. I think you can look at Nino (Niederreiter) tonight. Obviously when someone comes out of the lineup, it was tough to lose Zuck, but Nino's first shift he goes out with Mikko (Koivu) and (Jason Pominville) and scores on his first shift with those guys and scores a big goal for us."
Bickel has one assist and is second on the team with 46 penalty minutes in nine games with Minnesota this season. He has two goals and six assists to go with 51 penalty minutes in 23 games for the Iowa Wild of the AHL this season.
Sutter has three assists in five games for Minnesota this season. He has seven goals and 11 assists in 45 games for Iowa.
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