ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise will be back in the lineup when the Wild hosts the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center.

Parise missed the past five games with a concussion but will make his return after participating in several recent practices and morning skates with no setbacks.

Minnesota needs Parise too. The Wild have scored more than two goals in a game once in Parise's absence and went 2-3-0 without him. Parise leads the Wild with 10 points despite missing nearly a third of the team's games so far.

Wild coach Mike Yeo said he doesn’t expect to ease Parise back into the lineup either.

"He's been keeping himself in great shape," Yeo said. "We'll get him out there."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Twenty-four hours after the Anaheim Ducks announced Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin had the mumps, it appears the Minnesota Wild will be dealing with a similar illness for the second time this season.

The Wild host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.

Wild coach Mike Yeo said following the morning skate Thursday that defensemen Marco Scandella and Jonas Brodin are ill and showing similar symptoms to those exhibited by defensemen Christian Folin and Keith Ballard earlier this season.

Ballard confirmed to the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Nov. 5 that he tested positive for the virus. Folin tested negative for mumps but had similar symptoms. Folin missed five games and Ballard missed nine, meaning the Wild could be without two of their top four defensemen for an extended period.

"This came from somewhere else, but obviously there's the possibility that it's inside our locker room right now," Yeo said. "Whatever we have to do to make sure we clean it up and make sure nobody else gets this."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Marc-Andre Fleury is perhaps the hottest goaltender in the NHL, but even that won't get him a start against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center.

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Johnston said he wants to get Thomas Greiss some games in November after he played in one during the season's first month. Fleury's history against the Wild made the decision a little easier; he is 0-5 in five starts with a 3.76 goals-against average and a .853 save percentage. Minnesota is the only team in the League Fleury has never defeated.

Greiss, who signed a one-year contract with the Penguins on July 1 to serve as Fleury's backup, hasn't played since a 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 24.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild could get three key pieces of their lineup back Saturday when they play the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center.

Defenseman Jonas Brodin could be back after sustaining a hand injury in the first period Monday against the New York Rangers when he was checked into the boards from behind by the Rangers' Chris Kreider. Brodin returned to the game but sat out Tuesday against the Boston Bruins and Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.

Brodin said in addition to his hand he had been sore in a few other spots after the hit, including his neck. But he came to the rink Saturday feeling a little better. He will skate before the game and if he suffers no further setbacks, is expected to rejoin the lineup.

"I'm good but I was pretty sore that day after," Brodin said Saturday.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota Wild center Erik Haula will miss a second straight game when his team plays the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Haula was injured Monday as the result of an illegal hit to the head by New York Rangers defenseman John Moore, who was suspended five games by the NHL on Wednesday.

On Tuesday Moore reached out to Haula via telephone to apologize.

"I thought that was really nice," Haula said. "I haven't been around long enough to know how this stuff really works. I'm not a person who is going to be mad at him. Whether you mean it or not, I'm sure nobody really wants to hurt anyone in the League."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Through the first couple weeks of the season the Minnesota Wild's power play has been somewhat oxymoronic.

The Wild enter play Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning 0-for-19 with the man-advantage and one of two teams in the NHL without a goal on the power play. 

"There's always ebbs and flows with your power play," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "At the beginning of the year it's always nice if you can get off to a good start; the players are putting more points on the board, they feel better about that and we have realistically at least one more win right now."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild locked up another piece of their future Wednesday when they signed forward Charlie Coyle to a five-year contract extension. The new contract is worth $16 million and has an average annual value of $3.2 million, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Coyle is in his second full NHL season, and has one goal and one assist in four games. He had 12 goals and 30 points in 70 games last season and had three goals in 13 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"I'm really excited just to move forward with this organization," Coyle said. "Obviously I'm happy with where I am now. It's nice to know I'm going to be here for the next five years and playing with this team."

Coyle's entry-level contract will expire after this season, and he was to be one of several players the Wild view as a part of their core to be restricted free agents.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- At the time, Colorado Avalanche coach Patrick Roy called it the turning point of their Stanley Cup Playoff series.

With the Avalanche leading the Minnesota Wild 2-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference First Round series, defenseman Tyson Barrie took a knee-on-knee check from Wild forward Matt Cooke, knocking Barrie from the series and, as it turned out, the remainder of the season, as Minnesota rallied to win the series in seven games.

Cooke was suspended seven games by the NHL and returned later in the playoffs, as the Wild exited in the second round against the Chicago Blackhawks.

"That was, mentally, probably the toughest thing I've gone through," Barrie said. "But you have to let it go. This is a new season, a new team and we've got a good young exciting team and that’s not going to be our last time in the playoffs."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota Wild defenseman Keith Ballard will return to the lineup Tuesday in Game 6 of their Western Conference Second Round series against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center (9 p.m. ET; CNBC, TSN, RDS2).

Chicago leads the best-of-7 series 3-2.

Ballard was injured late in the second period of Game 4 when he was hit from behind by Blackhawks forward Brandon Bollig. Ballard left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. Bollig was assessed a two-minute minor for boarding, and was later suspended for two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety. Bollig will serve the second game of that suspension Tuesday.

Ballard has a history of concussions, including one that cost him seven games in October of this season, but did not say whether he sustained one this time around.

"I feel fine, I've felt fine for a couple of days," Ballard said. "We were trying to be pretty smart about it. There's no chance that I'd play if I had symptoms. I've been through that before and been down that road a couple times.

"I don't want to put myself in a position where in 10 years, I can't remember [my kids'] names."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild have their backs against the wall yet again.

A 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 of their Western Conference Second Round series Sunday night in Chicago has the Wild one game away from elimination for the third time in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

For Wild defenseman Ryan Suter, it's been more than that. Twice in these playoffs, Minnesota has trailed in a series 2-0. Each time, Suter said Game 3 was like a must-win too.