The Minnesota Wild had to head back out on the road to face the Blackhawks, arguably their biggest rival but, the Chicago Blackhawks are not doing so great this season, kind of like last season.
They were 12-15-6 before last night’s game but they still have that guy named Kane and another guy named Toews and, because it’s a rivalry, it doesn’t matter what the records are.
So….let’s get to the highlights.
Chicago got on the board first when Patrick Kane tried a wraparound that Kaapo Kahkonen stopped but the rebound came right back out so Kane could make another attempt at it. They said no goal on the ice and the game kept going until a stoppage allowed the officials to take a look and they saw the puck had crossed the goal line so 1-0, Chicago.
The Blackhawks then got a power play and Kane ended up with the puck in the slot and he took a shot that deflected off D Ryan Suter’s stick and got past Kahkonen and Chicago lead 2-0.
Wild F Eric Staal was sitting on 999 career points and he buried his 12th goal of the season on a one-timer on the power play to get the Wild back within a goal at 2-1.
About 2 minutes into the 2nd period, Patrick Kane had the puck in the offensive zone near his blue line and he tried to shoot but it hit Ryan Suter and deflected right to Kevin Fiala allowing him to get a breakaway and he went upper left over Chicago G Robin Lehner to tie the game at 2 goals apiece.
Around 6 minutes later, Chicago got a shot-pass-tip-in goal to take another 1-goal lead but it only lasted another 6 minutes before Fiala tied the game again. This time, it was off an intended centering pass that went off a Chicago defenseman’s skate then off Lehner and in.
The 2nd period ended in a 3-3 tie and it took until almost 14 minutes into the 3rd period to break the tie and, unfortunately, it was a weird goal against the Wild. A shot from Connor Murphy, the same Connor Murphy that the puck deflected off of for the Wild’s 3rd goal, was tipped in front of the net by F Brandon Saad. The puck then goes off of Wild D Matt Dumba and goes up and over Kaapo Kahkonen for a 4-3 Chicago lead.
Then, with the net empty, Wild D Brad Hunt stumbles as he enters the offensive zone with maybe a little help from Jonathan Toews’ stick. Toews passes to Kane and he shoots into the empty net for the Hat Trick and that’s how it would end.
5-3, Chicago over Minnesota.
The Wild will head to Vegas for a Tuesday Night tilt but they did make some moves today…
The Wild sent G Kaapo Kahkonen back down to the AHL Iowa Wild because G Devan Dubnyk has re-joined the team but he’ll be the backup on Tuesday night as Stalock will get the start. Duubs might need some practice time to get back in a rhythm.
They also recalled Fs Nico Sturm and Luke Johnson after placeing F Joel Eriksson Ek on IR (Injured Reserve.) He left the game against Philly after blocking a shot.
Also, injured D Jared Spurgeon and F Mikko Koivu are on the road trip and both skated in the optional skate this morning but Mikko left early which is likely a bad sign. We’ll let you know if anything changes!
Later, ‘Puckers!!!
