There was an audible buzz inside TRIA Rink early on Wednesday when Brock Faber stepped onto the ice to take shots on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The buzz continued when Jakub Lauko followed him, and it got notably louder when Kirill Kaprizov joined the party, skating with the team publicly for the first time since a lower body injury sidelined the Russian scoring star before Christmas. Kaprizov’s injury, classified as “day to day,” has now sidelined him for more than three weeks.

While none of those three were in uniform for the Wednesday night battle with Edmonton, coach John Hynes said there is a chance one or more of that trio could accompany the Wild on their upcoming trip to Nashville (Saturday) and Colorado (Monday).

“Usually you come back from the rehab skates and into practice, so that was a good step for those guys and we’ll see where it goes from here,” Hynes said.

Minnesota sports fans can be a pessimistic lot, with no men’s team titles to celebrate in more than 30 years, and another promising football campaign thudding to an ugly close this week. So they can be forgiven if some thought the worst on Dec. 27 when it was announced that Kaprizov would not travel to the team’s game that night in Dallas.

The Wild had won one of their previous five games, and the good feelings from their better-than-expected start were fading fast. But without Kaprizov (and later Faber, Lauko, captain Jared Spurgeon and veteran defenseman Jonas Brodin) the Wild have gone 6-3-0 since Christmas, staying in the thick of the fight for the Central Division crown and playing some of the past road hockey in the NHL.

Hynes gave credit on Wednesday for players stepping up to fill any gaps while the missing pieces work to get healthy.

“I think the guys have really bought in and understand that we have to play a really strong team game,” said the coach. “When you have players out, then it’s incumbent on the guys that are in to be able to step up and produce.”

As an example, Hynes in recent days has praised veteran forward Ryan Hartman, who had a mind-boggling run of zero points in an 18-game stretch between Nov. 23 and New Years’ Eve, but has posted six points in the past seven games, including the Wild’s only goal in a 4-1 loss at Vegas last Sunday.

“Our job is to go out there and win games. You can’t feel sorry for ourselves because we’re missing top guys,” said Hartman. “We’ve gotta go out there and continue to win games and keep ourselves in a good spot for when they get back, so we can continue to roll.”

On-ice wishes come true

Wild general manager Bill Guerin signed a young goalie to a one-day contract on Wednesday, then saw the new netminder stop scoring chances by Kaprizov, Faber and Lauko during the team’s morning skate. Cameron Furst, a nine-year-old from Edina, was the team’s guest for a Make-A-Wish day on Wednesday morning, skating with the team and getting some one-on-one instruction from future Hall-of-Famer Marc-Andre Fleury on the ice.

“He was having a blast. He signed a contract with Billy and then we had him downstairs in our own team meeting,” Hynes said of Furst, who practiced in a green Wild sweater with team autographs across the back, and his Edina youth hockey helmet. “Great kid. He’s got a great personality and he’s having fun out there, so it’s great.”

He noted that Fleury lives in the Furst family’s neighborhood, so they were friends before they were teammates for a day.