Brodin has one assist and is averaging 19:41 of ice time per game in the series.
“It’s really for today,” Wild coach John Hynes said Thursday. “It’s one of the things that guys get evaluated and it’s kind of a little bit of a moving target, so that’s why today he’ll be out, but I would classify him as day to day because as the day goes on, tomorrow, there could be an improvement or it could be the same.”
Jeff Petry replaced Brodin and played on Minnesota’s third defense pair with Zach Bogosian. Jake Middleton moved up to take Brodin’s spot on the second pair with Spurgeon.
Petry, a healthy scratch for the first five games of the series, played nine regular season games after Minnesota acquired him in a trade with the Florida Panthers on March 5. He has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 48 career NHL postseason games, but this will be his first since July 7, 2021.
“It’s an opportunity for me to step in and make an impact,” Petry said. “Just make sure that everything is off a strong defensive game and building that from there. It’s an exciting opportunity. I know ‘Brods’ is a big part and no one wants to see him go down. It’s bittersweet for that circumstance.”
Forward Nico Sturm returned for the Wild, replacing Bobby Brink, who had one assist in four games after being scratched for Game 1. He is centering Minnesota’s fourth line between Nick Foligno and Marcus Foligno.
Sturm played in Games 3 and 4 in place of Yakov Trenin, who missed time with an upper-body injury. Sturm was a healthy scratch for Game 5, when Trenin returned, but Hynes said he liked how Sturm played in limited minutes (20:20 total ice time). He had one assist.
