It has been two months since we did a Wild mailbag and several months since we did an ‘Ask Russo and Smith’ mailbag, but with Joe back on the clock, there’s no better time to answer many of your questions.

The Wild are bringing Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back from injuries as the NHL season reaches the home stretch.

Superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon returned to practice on Wednesday. Head coach John Hynes told reporters he's "cautiously optimistic" that both will play in their upcoming game against the Utah Hockey Club at Xcel Energy Center.

Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon were full participants during practice and seem likely to return to the lineup on Thursday. Kaprizov, 27, has missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He was in line rushes with Mats Zuccarello and Marco Rossi ...

Nashville's Luke Schenn, left, and the Wild's Marcus Foligno fight during the first period Saturday. (Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press)

The Montreal Canadiens continue their homestand as they face the Minnesota Wild. It is time to continue our NHL odds series with a Wild-Canadiens prediction and pick. The Wild come into Wednesday night at 29-17-4 on the year,

PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (28-15-4) are in action tonight against the Utah Hockey Club (20-19-7) for the third meeting between the two teams this year. The Wild are welcoming Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon into the lineup tonight.

It wasn't an overly convincing win, but the Wild got the job done against one of the worst teams in the NHL on Sunday evening. They started hot, then held on and were able to avoid blowing a 3-0 lead in a 4-2 road victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Andrei Kuzmenko had two goals and an assist, and the Calgary Flames used their power play to beat the Minnesota Wild 5-4. Kuzmenko and Rasmus Andersson each had a power-play goal, and Martin Pospisil and Clark Bishop also scored for Calgary.

On their seventh try, they finally eluded Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek 5 minutes, 43 seconds into the first period when Spurgeon sent the puck past Mrazek’s blocker after a 4-on-2 rush for the Wild. Marco Rossi factored into the play to pick up an assist on the Wild’s past four goals, tying a team record for the second time this season.

The Chicago Blackhawks came into Sunday night’s action looking to get back into the win column. They had dropped their last two games in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Goalie Filip Gustavsson’s 18 saves and Marcus Foligno’s empty-netter preserved earlier goals from captain Jared Spurgeon, Frederick Gaudreau and Joel Eriksson Ek as the Wild moved to 18-5-3 on the road.