The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild in a shootout last night 3-2. Marian Hossa scored the only goal in the shootout to capture the win for the Blackhawks.
The game was a battle. For a minute it looked like the Wild might have another come-from-behind victory on the way, but it wasn’t to be. Chicago led 2-1, late in the third until Erik Haula’s goal with just 1:54 to play, evened the score.
The Wild scored first on goal from Charlie Coyle. It was Coyle’s 11th goal of the season. Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter each picked up assists on the Minnesota goal.
Early in the second, Chicago evened the game. Ben Smith’s wrist-shot beat Wild goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to even the score at one. Brandon Saad and Nick Leddy both assisted.
The score remained tied at one the rest of the second period, until Chicago’s Brian Bickell broke the tie in the third, that was until the closing moments when Haula pulled the Wild even.
The game was pretty even, each team had one power play, neither converted. Minnesota finished with 27 shots on goal, Chicago had 26.
Bryzgalov played pretty well for the Wild. He was the fourth different goaltender the Wild used against Chicago this season. He stopped 24 shots. Chicago’s Corey Crawford stopped 25.
Zach Parise said he was "seeing stars" and still has a little headache after taking the forearm to the back of the head tonight.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) April 4, 2014
The hit came from Chicago’s Brandon Bollig during the second period. There was no penalty on the play, but the Wild didn’t take kindly to the hit.
The Wild sit in the top wildcard spot in the West. According to the Star Tribune, the eighth-place Dallas Stars lost to Carolina. That means Dallas and Phoenix are now both five points behind the Wild with the point Minnesota picked up in the standings.
Minnesota has five games left. They host Pittsburgh on Saturday.
