We all knew that this could and would be a challenging season with the injury potential and the roster limitations due to the Wild being right up against the salary cap.

The injuries to Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund have forced the Wild to dress 11 forwards and 7 defensemen the last two games, but no one could have predicted that they would lose not 1 but 3 forwards during last nights game.

Marcus Foligno did not return to the game following his second period fight with John Hayden. Foligno looked to have the upper hand throughout much of the fight, but Hayden landed a huge right that caught Foligno square in the head, buckling his knees and the linesman quickly jumped in.

Nino Niederreiter left the game with a lower body injury after Blackhawk Tanner Kero fell on his leg. Nino is definitely out for Saturday's home opener and by the sound of it could be longer.

Charlie Coyle took a Jared Spurgeon shot to the back of the leg and was in some serious discomfort as he hobbled to the bench. Bruce Boudreau said after the game, he doubts very seriously that Coyle will be able to go Saturday as well.

A gutsy win for the Wild in Chicago for sure, as the Wild played much of the third period with just eight forwards.

The practice time paid off for the Wild as they played a more disciplined game, and developed their scoring opportunities off of strong defensive play. Devan Dubnyk was great in goal tracking the puck well all night, standing tall keeping the Wild in the game, and allowing them the opportunity to get the first lead of the night late in the second period.

There was a three minute stretch where the Wild were hemmed in their own zone, where Dubnyk stood tall, and the Wild players kept most of the Chicago attack to the perimeter. The Hawks looked to turn the game into a track meet and the Wild started to play right along, allowing Chicago to get some of their best looks at the Wild net in that second period.

Fortunately the Wild players reacted and transitioned back to their positional play seemingly in midstream led by Eric Staal on a Chicago line rush, where the Wild players were all over the ice. Staal appeared to almost stop and make the decision to get into the position to take away the passing lanes and force the play to the outside. His teammates followed the lead and the Blackhawk possession was thwarted.

The leadership on this team has been a question mark in the past, with the locker room being divided at times. That seams a distant memory with this team, as the experience of veteran role players led by Chris Stewart, Matt Culen, and Daniel Winnik are showing how to be a team and working together with "the next man up" philosophy.

Stewart showed some real team leadership when in the final minute he passed up a chance at his own hattrick to feed the puck to Tyler Ennis in an attempt to get him his first Wild goal. After the game Stewart said that he was returning the favor as Ennis had set him up earlier.

Ennis was a factor all night leading the Wild with 6 hits in just over 13 minutes of ice time.

Jason Zucker took control of the third period with his speed, determination, and grit setting up the Wild's second goal, then scoring their third on just an all around heads up play banking the puck off of a sprawling Corey Crawford.

A nice win, but just win number 1, nothing more than two points in the standings. Saturday is a new game and the Wild will need to build on the effort they showed last night albeit with a depleted group of forwards.

Luke Kunin has been recalled and will make his NHL debut tomorrow night against Columbus. The Wild have sent Mike Reilly down to Iowa. The salary cap is a big issue for the Wild and Reilly can go to Iowa without having to clear waivers, whereas Gustav Olofsson would have to go through waivers to be assigned to Iowa, and would most certainly be claimed. A risk the Wild cannot take.

Injury Updates on Coyle, Niederreiter, and Foligno
Coyle placed LTIR with a broken right fibula and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks
Niederreiter placed on IR with a high ankle sprain and will miss a minimum of 3 weeks
Foligno has a facial fracture that will require surgery on Sunday, and will be out at least a week.

The Wild will get some cap relief to make some additional call ups from Iowa. They are expected to add as many as three more players before tomorrow's home opener.

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