Wild’s Lack of Energy Leads to Loss to Blackhawks

The Minnesota Wild were looking to wrap up their road trip with one more win, this time over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, Nov. 10. It was the Wild’s third game in four days, and it showed in their gameplay right from the start. They struggled to beat the Blackhawks to the puck, they didn’t get great shots, and they just seemed off. 

The Wild’s lineup remained the same, with the exception of Jon Merrill, who came into the lineup, and Declan Chisholm, who came out. The Wild struggled to find their game, and while they were able to force overtime, the Blackhawks won 2-1. This moved the Wild’s record to 10-2-3 and the Blackhawks’ to 6-9-1. 

Game Recap

The first period was pretty quiet. The Wild took a few undisciplined penalties to start the period, but luckily, their penalty kill held up. It took until the final few minutes of the period before anyone found the back of the net, and it was the Blackhawks who scored first. Jason Dickinson scored while Filip Gustavsson was blocked by his own player. 

They held the lead through the rest of the first and into the second. The same story nearly unfolded in the second except for goals. Neither team could find the back of the net in the second, and the Wild needed a big third to try to come out on top. 

The Wild’s head coach, John Hynes, had been mixing up the lines a little bit throughout the game, but in the third period, he adjusted nearly everything and got results with some of the best energy of the game. It took the majority of the third period, but the Wild finally scored in the final few minutes to tie the game. The goal was scored by Matt Boldy and assisted by Kirill Kaprizov, who has been a scoring machine this season. 

The final few minutes of regulation went by without any more scoring, and overtime was required to determine a winner. The Wild had some strong chances but couldn’t put the puck in the net; instead, the Blackhawks’ Phillip Kurashev got the game-winner. 

The Wild will have the next three days off before they are back in action at home on Thursday, Nov. 14, when they host the Montréal Canadiens. The Blackhawks will also be off the next few days but will be back in action on the road against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.