The Wild are back from their longest road spell of the season and ready to play at home again for the first time since Oct. 12. It was a good trip.

Minnesota went 5-1-1 during a seven-game string of road games that ended with a five-game swing through Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. One of those games was a 4-2 victory at Tampa Bay, and the Lightning will be looking for revenge when the teams drop the puck on Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild woke up Thursday morning in a virtual tie with Dallas for second place in the Western Conference, a good place to be after the first nine games of the season (6-1-2). Their lone regulation loss came last Saturday, a 7-5 setback at Philadelphia.

The team went through a full practice Thursday at TRIA Rink, after which coach John Hynes was asked if he had concerns about his team losing the focus that got them through their first big test of the season with flying colors.

“No, I don’t worry about it,” he said. “We had a good day off yesterday. We had a meeting and addressed some of those things. That road trip was good, but it’s not going to do anything for us today in practice or tomorrow in the game.”

The strong start has been accomplished despite injuries to some key players, something that helped derail the Wild early last season.

Top center Joel Eriksson Ek was knocked out of a game, then missed a couple of more, because of a broken nose. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon has missed six games because of a setback in his recovery from a pair of winter surgeries, and forward Ryan Hartman has been out the past five because of an upper body injury.

Spurgeon returned to play in Tuesday night’s 5-3 victory at Pittsburgh and practiced Thursday with no issues. The team captain is following a recovery routine related to hip and back surgeries last February and March.

“He got out (of Tuesday’s game) great,” Hynes said. “He was full practice today. He was in for treatments; everything was good. So, all good on that front.”

Hartman remains questionable after being injured in a 4-1 victory at St. Louis on Oct. 15. Hynes said there is potential for Hartman to return against the Lightning pn Friday “based on him being a full participant in practice.”

“But I still have to talk to the trainers today after and practice and see if he’s ready to go or not,” the coach added. “But he is progressing back to that point. Possibly tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, I would say in the near future.”

Where exactly Hartman would play is unknown. Freddy Gaudreau took over his job as the third-line center and has been effective, scoring two goals on Tuesday.

“A decision will have to be made, but those are the good ones you have to make,” Hynes said. “They’re the hard ones, for sure, but I’d rather have the hard decisions. At this point, I don’t have a set plan for that until I get confirmation that’s he’s definitely in.”

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