Minnesota fell back on depth, defense and Filip Gustavsson’s goaltending and improved its NHL-best road record.

Still, the Wild simply do not have a player who is capable of replicating Kaprizov’s dynamic play with the puck, which has taken him to the top of the team’s scoring charts despite missing a month of the season already with a lower-body injury scheduled to be surgically repaired this week.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin announced on Tuesday that Kaprizov is being shut down for the time being to have surgery and repair the lower body injury that has allowed the team’s top scorer to play in just three games since Christmas.