ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild had an optional practice Thursday after Wednesday’s off day. There weren’t many regulars on the ice, and there certainly was no Joel Eriksson Ek or Jonas Brodin.

Coach John Hynes said Eriksson Ek and Brodin haven’t skated since suffering their injuries. We’ll see if Eriksson Ek is there for Friday’s full practice. As of the morning of Game 1, team sources said Eriksson Ek was hoping to try to play Saturday, but that was hardly set in stone. Hynes said Thursday that practicing on Friday wouldn’t necessarily determine whether the Swedish center plays in the game.

Brodin, team sources said, will remain out for a while.

Eriksson Ek was hurt in Game 6 of the first round against the Dallas Stars, while Brodin was injured in Game 5.

Thursday, during meetings at their practice facility, the Wild showed players metrics that show they’ve been pretty even with the Avalanche at five-on-five, maybe even better. There’s obviously going to be a focus on special teams ahead of Game 3, either in meetings Friday or on the ice for practice, but there’s been a relatively upbeat mood considering they’re trailing 2-0.

“There’s a lot of belief,” winger Yakov Trenin said. “No panic. We lost two in a row against Dallas and came back and won three. So it’s positive.”

“It’s far from over,” defenseman Daemon Hunt said. “We’re down two games, but everyone has to win four. We’ve got so much belief in here.”

The schedule works in the Wild’s favor with the three days between games, both by possibly getting players like Eriksson Ek healthy and by giving them a mental and physical reset.

“I think you can really draw in the series we just came from,” Hynes said. “We lost two games in a row … and won three straight. We had injuries in Dallas. We’ve got injuries in this series. So I think even the group now, in that series that we went through with Dallas, there’s a lot of valuable, valuable things we can draw on. How do we respond after we lost the double-overtime game? How did we respond when we lost two? What lessons did we extract? How did we approach it? What’s the method that we had? And I think that mindset in those experiences, it’s no different for us now.”

Lining up

Hynes said he has not made a decision on his Game 3 starter in net, or at least he wasn’t ready to reveal it.

The Wild made the switch from Jesper Wallstedt, who gave up eight goals in Game 1, to Filip Gustavsson in Game 2, and Gustavsson gave up goals on the first two shots in a 5-1 loss. It would make sense for the Wild to go back to Wallstedt for Game 3, and he didn’t skate on Thursday with a lot of the scratches while Gustavsson did, which could be an indication.

Zach Bogosian, who missed Tuesday’s game with a lingering lower-body injury, is making progress, and the team is “optimistic” he’ll be back for Game 3, Hynes said.

Among the players who skated Thursday were Danila Yurov, Nico Sturm, Trenin, Hunt, Jeff Petry, plus regular scratches like Hunter Haight, Ben Jones, Robby Fabbri, Bobby Brink and Matt Kiersted.

In the Hunt

Hunt has played pretty well in his first two career playoff games, with his skating helping against a fast Avalanche team. Hunt was a plus-1 in each of the past two games, averaging 13 minutes and 39 seconds of ice time.

“I think definitely getting thrown into the fire a bit,” Hunt said. “I think skating, the way I think the game, I think I did fine. I think as the second game progressed, I got better. Just move my feet more, getting up on the rush more. I’m just trying to help the team win.”

With the Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon second pair struggling, the Wild could decide to switch up their pairs for Game 3. Middleton has been on for nine of the Avalanche’s 14 goals, Spurgeon for eight. Hunt did get a chance with Brock Faber on the penalty kill in Game 2.

Could Hunt get paired with Spurgeon and perhaps Middleton move down beside Bogosian?

“I’m up for whatever,” Hunt said. “Me and (Spurgeon) have been good together when we’ve played together, but it’s not up to me. Whoever I’m paired with is good.”

“His skating has been a factor,” Hynes said. “His ability to handle a line rush. He’s hard to close plays. He’s strong at the net front. And from an offensive perspective, he’s the guy that he has the ability to join the rush and support the rush because of his skating.”