ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom left Wednesday night's game against Toronto in the first period with an upper-body injury, according to coach Mike Yeo.

Backstrom, starting his first game since Oct. 28, was run over by Toronto's Nazem Kadri 7 minutes into the game and stayed flat on the ice for about 30 seconds before slowly sitting up. Kadri's elbow appeared to hit Backstrom in the head.

Backstrom remained in the game until a stoppage at 10:31. He skated to the bench and headed to the dressing room, finishing the night with three saves.

He was replaced by Josh Harding, who was supposed to have the night off because of an illness. Harding made 19 saves in Minnesota's 2-1 shootout win.