Joel Eriksson Ek injured in Wild’s shootout loss to Seattle

The Wild were unsure late Saturday whether Joel Eriksson Ek would travel with the team to Winnipeg for Sunday evening’s game against the Jets at Canada Life Centre.

Eriksson Ek was injured in the second period of Saturday’s night’s 5-4, shootout loss to Seattle at Xcel Energy Center when Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson elbowed him in the face.

Bleeding from his nose, Eriksson Ek went immediately to the training room. He emerged wearing a full shield at the beginning of the third period, but after one more shift he left for good.

Asked whether Eriksson Ek would fly to Winnipeg, coach John Hynes said, “I don’t know.”

The team’s top center and best two-way forward, Eriksson Ek, 27, scored a career-high 30 goals and 64 points, and was a plus-18, in 77 games last season. He’s centering the second line with Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson, and had a goal and assist in Thursday night’s victory over Columbus.

The no-call was a key point in Saturday night’s game. Shortly afterward, Jonas Brodin was called for tripping despite not tripping Seattle’s Brandon Tanev, leading to Jordan Eberle’s game-tying power play goal.

“It’s just tough because it’s common sense, right?” said Wild alternate captain Marcus Foligno. “The guy’s got the puck, making a move, and the guy goes to hit him and — yeah, it’s brutal. I mean, I don’t really understand that call at all.”

Hynes said he was happy with how the Wild responded to that segment, taking leads of 3-2 and 4-3 and getting physical with Seattle. Foligno had seven of the Wild’s 32 official hits.

“Swing of momentum that shouldn’t have had momentum at all, but those are the bounces in the game you just forget about,” Foligno said. “I think our team did a pretty good job mentally just forgetting about things.”

If Eriksson Ek isn’t available for Sunday’s 5 p.m. puck drop in Winnipeg, the Wild could survive without making a roster move by plugging in rookie Liam Ohgren — who hasn’t played yet this season — as a wing and having fourth line wing Freddy Gaudreau move to center.

Ryan Hartman, who started on the third line with Foligno and Yakov Trenin, scored the Wild’s last go-ahead goal after replacing Eriksson Ek at center on the second line.

But Hynes was concerned there might be other dinged up players after a game in which Minnesota and Seattle combined for 52 official hits.

“I can go back in there and they could say, ‘Two more guys are questionable,’ ” the coach said. “Then you’re probably going to have to make some moves.”