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Parise, Letang key injuries in Monday’s playoff race

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The Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets are the latest NHL teams to clinch playoff berths, but how far will they go in the postseason?

The Minnesota Wild have another massive game on Monday night as they try to get themselves back into the Western Conference playoff picture, and for the second game in a row they will have to play without one of their best forwards in Zach Parise.

Parise remains sidelined with a lower-body injury that also kept him out of Saturday’s blowout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said on Monday, via The Athletic’s Michael Russo, that they are hoping he is back sooner rather than later, but that right now “it is just hope.”

After trading Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund before the trade deadline, Parise is one of the few top-line scoring threats left on the team.

His 26 goals and 59 total points are both tops on the roster.

“As it goes we’re not a high-scoring team,” said Boudreau on Monday. “And you take out one guy with 26 goals it makes it a little more difficult. It makes it so you have to win the low-scoring games. Simple as that, you can’t play a run-and-game against a high offensive team.”

The Wild enter Monday’s game just two points out of a playoff spot but have only won three of their past 11 games. Two of those losses during that stretch were shootout losses to the Nashville Predators team they play on Monday.
[Related: Wild host Predators on NBCSN]

Minnesota’s remaining schedule is as brutal as it gets among playoff hopefuls in the Western Conference as every single one of their opponents is either in a playoff spot, or in direct competition with them for one. After hosting Nashville on Monday their remaining five games are against the Vegas Golden Knights, Arizona Coyotes, Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets, and Dallas Stars. Three of those teams (the Golden Knights, Jets and Bruins) are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, while the Stars are one of the toughest teams in the league to score against.

Parise is not the only significant injury on Monday’s slate of games.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will also be without their top defender, Kris Letang, when they visit the New York Rangers.

Letang had just returned from an injury that sidelined him for a couple of weeks and had been outstanding in his three games back in the lineup. According to Penguins coach Mike Sullivan Letang is “day-to-day” with an upper-body injury, and it is unknown if that injury is in anyway related to the one that had just sidelined him for 11 games. The Penguins were still able to go 7-2-2 during that stretch thanks in large part to the play of starting goaltender Matt Murray.

Letang was averaging more than 25 minutes of ice-time over the past three games, had a point in each one, and was a 55 percent possession player while the Penguins outscored teams by a 4-0 margin with him on the ice during 5-on-5 play. When he has been healthy this season he has returned to being one of the top defenders in the league after a down year during the 2017-18 season.

Along with Letang, the Penguins are still playing without center Evgeni Malkin and defender Olli Maatta.

Even though they have not yet officially clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they have really solidified their spot with what is now a seven-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets and still have a chance to get home-ice advantage in the first round (they enter Monday just two points back of the New York Islanders) and an outside shot at perhaps even winning Metropolitan Division (three points back of the Washington Capitals).

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.