Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek, whose participation in the first-round NHL playoff series loss to Dallas was limited to just one shift, was trying to play with a broken left leg that he wound up having surgery to fix.
Eriksson Ek revealed Monday that he suffered a fractured fibula, the smaller of the two bones in the lower leg, from a shot he blocked April 6 at Pittsburgh. Eriksson Ek missed the last four regular-season games and the first two games of the series against the Stars before being cleared April 21 for Game 3.