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Wild beat Blackhawks 4-3 to end losing streak

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on

Published in Hockey

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild will have a fresh start waiting for them on the other side of their holiday break.

After getting two players back from injury, including goaltender Filip Gustavsson, the Wild outlasted the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 Monday night at Xcel Energy Center to ditch their season-long, four-game losing streak before a three-day layoff.

Brock Faber, who had a goal overturned earlier, scored a 2-2 tiebreaker off a one-timer just 2 minutes, 43 seconds into the third period before an empty-netter from Marcus Foligno at 18:36 turned into the game-winner once Chicago’s Jason Dickinson converted with 33 seconds left.

This was only the Wild’s second victory over the past seven games.

They’ll emerge from their hiatus 21-10-4, their 46 points ranking fifth in the NHL.

After getting crushed 5-0 by the Jets on Saturday, the first time this season the Wild were shut out, their offense quickly rebooted just 3:01 into the first period when Devin Shore cut to the middle and the puck kicked out to Faber in the slot for the put-back.

But the goal was reversed after the Blackhawks challenged for goaltender interference: The Wild’s Ben Jones was in the crease and bumped Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom to negate a terrific effort by the fourth line.

To make matters worse for the Wild, the Blackhawks capitalized next after an unsuccessful outlet pass by Mats Zuccarello landed on Connor Bedard’s stick and although Bedard appeared to lose the handle on his shot, the puck slide five-hole on Gustavsson at 6:47.

The Wild answered back at 11:11, when Kirill Kaprizov buried a can’t-miss tap-in after a Marco Rossi deflection hit the post and bounced right to him.

Kaprizov’s 23 goals are tied for second in the NHL, and his 50 points are fourth. The 34 games it took for him to get to 50 points bested his previous franchise record by four games (2021-22).

Both sides traded goals again in the second, with the Wild once again playing catch up after Nick Foligno polished off the rebound from a 3-on-2 for Chicago at 6:16 that Gustavsson initially stopped.

Only 49 seconds later, captain Jared Spurgeon slung a backhander by Soderblom during another quality shift by the Wild’s fourth line; this was the first goal the Wild tallied without Kaprizov on the ice since Frederick Gaudreau’s second-unit power play marker during the 7-1 clunker to the Oilers on Dec. 12.

 

Shore, who has appeared in every Wild game except one since Nov. 21 as an injury call-up from the minors, picked up an assist on Spurgeon’s goal for his first point with the Wild.

That set up a make-or-break third, and the Wild were first to take charge.

Faber’s shot came off a slick play by his defensive partner Jonas Brodin, who skated the puck deep into the offensive zone and deftly avoided Blackhawks pressure to hand off to Faber. Teaming up with those two was the Wild’s third line, with Marat Khusnutdinov also factoring into the goal.

With the lead, the Wild continued to test Chicago, including on their first and only power play; for the second time this season, the Wild didn’t commit a single penalty.

Gustavsson finished with 28 saves in his return to the crease after sitting out four games with a lower-body injury. Soderblom made 23 stops.

The Wild also had veteran forward Yakov Trenin back in action after he missed five straight with an upper-body issue. Trenin had two assists, the second coming on Foligno’s clutch goal.

Still on the mend are forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Jakub Lauko and defenseman Jake Middleton.

Eriksson Ek has been skating with the team, while Lauko and Middleton are progressing, coach John Hynes said.

The Wild’s next game is Friday against the Stars in Dallas.

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©2024 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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