Parise ruled out for at least two games

Minnesota LW Zach Parise pursues the puck in the Wild’s 4-1 series-clinching Game 6 win over the Blues on April 26, 2015 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Apparent knee injury sidelines Wild left wing indefinitely

Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo said forward Zach Parise will miss a minimum of two games as a result of what the team is labeling a “lower-body injury” suffered early in Thursday’s 3-2 home loss to the Nashville Predators. Parise underwent an MRI this morning and Yeo said the team is still awaiting the results of that exam and there is currently no time frame for his return.

The injury occurred on Parise’s first shift of the game, just past the one minute mark, on a hard hit by Nashville’s James Neal near the boards which resulted in a knee-to-knee collision between the two. After the hit, Parise limped off and skated down the tunnel behind the Minnesota bench but returned to skate a handful of shifts before leaving the game for good with two minutes to play in the opening period.

Following the game, Minnesota coach Mike Yeo responded to initial questions about Parise’s status stating only that he would have an update in the morning. However, as his post-game press conference continued, Yeo’s body language and comments became increasingly cryptic.

“The bottom line is we’re losing Zach and we’re probably going to lose some offense,” Yeo said, adding that Parise will not play in Minnesota’s next game on Saturday against the Tampa bay Lightning.

The news is devastating to a team already without young forwards Tyler Graovac and Justin Fontaine for the next several weeks and the best options available from the Wild’s struggling farm team in Iowa are either injured or off to miserable starts. Zac Dalpe, the Iowa player most likely to have been recalled in this instance, is out for five months following surgery on Thursday to repair a torn labrum in his left hip.