Minnesota Wild Hold on for 4-3 Victory Over Blackhawks

The Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks met for the third time this season on Monday, Dec. 23. The second in St. Paul, Minnesota, and both teams were looking to get back in the win column following losses this past Saturday, Dec. 21. The Wild were able to clear some space on their injured list as both Yakov Trenin and Filip Gustavsson were back in the lineup. Gustavsson was back in between the pipes for the first time since Dec. 12 against the Edmonton Oilers. They still missed Joel Eriksson Ek, Jakub Lauko, and Jake Middleton. 

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The Blackhawks were without Alec Martinez, Craig Smith, and Laurent Brossoit due to injuries. The goaltending matchup was between Gustavsson for the Wild and Arvid Soderblom for the Blackhawks. The game started out back and forth as one team scored a goal, and then the other answered; however, the Wild scored the final goal and won 4-3. That moved them to a record of 21-10-4, and the Blackhawks moved to 12-21-2.

Game Recap

The Wild thought they got on the board first, but it was overturned due to goaltender interference, and although they found some momentum, the Blackhawks answered with a goal of their own to get on the board first. Their star scored the goal, Connor Bedard for his ninth goal of the season, and Taylor Hall assisted him. The Wild responded with their first goal of the game five minutes later, which was scored by Kirill Kaprizov. The assists went to Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello, and that’s how the first would end: tied 1-1. 

The second period started the same way as the first, with the Blackhawks getting on the board first, as Nick Foligno got a rebound past Gustavsson, with Frank Nazar and former Wild player Ryan Donato getting the assists. However, less than a minute later, Jared Spurgeon scored a backhand goal that tied the game at two, with Yakov Trenin and Devin Shore getting the assists. Like the first period, the second would end tied, but this time, 2-2. 

In the third period, the Wild found themselves on the scoreboard first with a goal by Brock Faber, who one-timed a pass from Jonas Brodin to give his team their first lead of the game, and the other assist went to Marat Khusnutdinov. Marcus Foligno would score on the empty net later in the period to put his team up 4-2 with an assist to Trenin, but the Blackhawks would answer right back to make it 4-3. Jason Dickinson scored the goal, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Wild would take the win thanks to Foligno’s empty-net goal in the final minutes. 

The Wild and Blackhawks will have the next three days off as the NHL takes its annual holiday break. The Wild will return from break and head on the road to face division rival, the Dallas Stars, on Friday, Dec. 27. The Blackhawks will also go on the road when they come back from break, but they’ll head to Buffalo to face the Sabres also on Friday.