Minnesota Wild centre Joel Eriksson Ek was back at practice Thursday after having surgery on his broken nose.
Eriksson Ek sustained the injury during the second period of Saturday's 5-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken when defenceman Adam Larsson caught him in the nose with an elbow. No penalty was called on the play.
The 27-year-old from Karlstad, Sweden, missed the past two games and was sporting a full bubble shield during practice.
Eriksson Ek had a career-high 64 points (30 goals and 34 assists) in 77 games last season. He has one goal in two games this season.
The Wild (2-0-2) return to the ice Saturday on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.