When you have a player on their team do what he did, that gave us life,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Obviously, it was a cheap hit.”

Coach John Hynes called it a “cheap hit” and “undisciplined” play, but didn’t have an official update on Spurgeon after the game. The NHL Department of Player Safety will surely look at the hit, which drew L’Heureux a match penalty. “It didn’t look good,” Hynes said.

The Minnesota Wild faced another division rival, the Nashville Predators, in their annual New Year’s Eve game on Tuesday evening, Dec. 31, which goes back to before 2020.

The Wild power play was finally the catalyst for a win instead of contributing to another loss. After a 0-for-15 drought, the Wild scored three times – including during a match penalty for a slew-foot against captain Jared Spurgeon – to get by the Predators 5-3 Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center for a subdued victory because of Spurgeon’s gruesome-looking injury.

PAUL - Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon suffered a bad leg injury in the second period against the Nashville Predators. The Wild, who are already without Kirill Kaprizov, Jake Middleton, and Jakub Lauko,