Nazar Hat Trick Leads Blackhawks to 4-1 Win Over Wild

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Chicago Blackhawks for their second home preseason game on Sunday evening, Sept. 28. The Wild’s prior preseason game was a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday, Sept. 25, while the Blackhawks were coming off a 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, Sept. 27. 

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It’s still preseason, so neither team was full of veterans just yet, but the Wild had Filip Gustavsson, Ryan Hartman, and Marcus Foligno, among others. The Blackhawks had Connor Bedard, Andre Burakovsky, and Nick Foligno alongside other veterans as well. The goaltending battle was between Filip Gustavsson for the Wild and Drew Commesso for the Blackhawks. The game started out in favor of the Blackhawks and although the Wild fought back, the Blackhawks took the 4-1 win.

Game Recap 

This game started out pretty sloppy for both sides until the first penalty was called and the first goal of the game followed shortly after. The Blackhawks’ Frank Nazar scored on the power play to put his team up 1-0. It was a nifty passing play that was set up by Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. That was the only goal of the first, and the Blackhawks took the lead into the second period. 

Nazar continued to show his scoring skills in the second as he tallied his second goal of the game barely a minute into the middle period to give his team a two-goal lead. He skated right around the Wild’s defense and sniped it past Gustavsson. Bertuzzi assisted him for his second assist of the night, and Sam Rinzel got the secondary assist for his first of the game. 

The Wild responded just past the halfway point of the second period on a goal by Hunter Haight. He knocked in his own rebound and was assisted by Tyler Pitlick as well as Carson Lambos to make it a 2-1 game. Those were the only goals of the second period, and the Blackhawks held the lead into the third and final period. 

The Blackhawks extended their lead in the third period as Ryan Donato scored to make it 3-1. He was assisted by Connor Bedard and Wyatt Kaiser. The Wild thought they scored, but it was waved off due to goaltender interference, and the score remained 3-1. The Blackhawks scored one final goal on the empty net to make it 4-1. The goal was scored by Nazar for his third of the night and he was assisted by Teravainen. That goal sealed the night and the Blackhawks took the win.

The Wild will remain at home for one more preseason game on Tuesday, Sept. 30, against the Winnipeg Jets before heading on the road to finish out the preseason. The Blackhawks will head back home to host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday before having another back-to-back to finish their preseason.