As if the bye week wasn't bad enough. The Minnesota Wild took the ice against Los Angeles Monday after the new mandatory bye week that each NHL team takes. Before game time, however, there was this little announcement: Zach Parise and Jason Pominville were out of the lineup because they have the mumps.
The hot takes came flying in across the social media channels, most notably the Twitter machine. They ranged from panic, anger, the classic "we can't have nice things," Minnesota sports always get screwed, to even some people going on about the vaccines.
Then there was a "here we go again" vibe, since the mumps made the NHL and Wild rounds in 2014. Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Christian Folin and Keith Ballard.
The Wild have had a phenomenal regular season under new coach Bruce Boudreau. They kept winning, didn't collapse in January and knew how to score a ton of goals. Still, call me a jaded Minnesota sports fan, but I just had trouble committing to this team too much and getting all excited. You're always waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know?
It dropped into a big pile of mumps. Not long after I finally started to fully buy in to this team.
What a blow for this team that now has 16 games in the month of March, with a few back-to-backs. Sure, they traded for Martin Hanzal and Ryan White from the Coyotes, which will help. But the lineups are probably going to get pretty interesting the next few weeks.
First hearing this mumps news, it's easy to just throw your hands up in confusing frustration. The mumps? Again? It's something teams are susceptible to, but why just the NHL? Not that I really care. I'm not going to dig deep into some medical journal to try and find out.
It's also understandable to have the reaction "we can't have nice things." It happens with a lot of things in life. Everything is sailing along until the train comes and hits you. That's kind of what it feels like here with the mumps.
But just wait a minute. Even with Parise and Pominville out against the Kings, even with two new players on the roster who were no doubt tired mentally and physically from their recent trade, even with being off for the five-day bye week, the Wild still won the game.
Yes, they kept getting behind and needed overtime for a 5-4 victory, but they won. Just like they've done all season. They've found a way. That's what makes this team so special this year. Even if the defense isn't particularly great on a given night or the offense needs Devan Dubynk to steal a game for them, they still find ways to win.
Last night was victory No. 40 when Mikael Granlund put on a clinic for a goal 12 seconds into overtime, reminiscent of his sliding OT winner in the playoffs against Colorado. Coming off the bye week, NHL teams this season were 3-12-4. The Wild beat those odds and became the fourth team to get a win.
So, the mumps have hit at a tough time in the schedule for the Wild. First off all, let's hope for a speedy return back to health for Parise, Pommer and assistant coach Scott Stevens, plus cross the fingers that no one else from the organization comes down with the symptoms. That is what's most important.
The Wild still sit atop the Western Conference in a great position for the playoffs. They already proved last night that they won't let the mumps stop them.
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