The players for the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks didn’t have much time to enjoy the turkey from Thanksgiving as they had a big match-up the following afternoon, Friday, Nov. 29. It was a battle of the Foligno brothers as older brother Nick for the Blackhawks and younger brother Marcus for the Wild took the ice, who’ve faced each other over 25 times during their careers.
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In net for the Blackhawks was Petr Mrazek, and for the Wild, it was Marc-André Fleury. It wasn’t a fast start for either team, but as time passed, the game ramped up; the Wild mounted a comeback and took the win 3-2, which moved the Wild to a record of 15-4-4, and the Blackhawks fell to 8-13-2.
Game Recap
Just a few minutes into the game, the Blackhawks found the back of the net on a quick shot that caught Fleury by surprise from Ryan Donato, who received the pass from Tyler Bertuzzi. That goal gave their team the lead, and despite many chances from the Wild, who eventually found their skating legs, it held through the rest of the period.
The Blackhawks looked to be in control of the second as Donato scored his second goal, this time on the power play just over five minutes into the period. However, the Wild answered back, with Kirill Kaprizov setting up a perfect passing play that Marco Rossi finished and got their team within one.
It was mostly Wild from that point on, as their captain Jared Spurgeon, on his birthday, knocked a puck in off of Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy to tie the game at two. Spurgeon wasn’t done, however, as he scored his second goal of the game and the season towards the end of the period to give his team their first and only lead of the night, 3-2.
The Wild added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds to play, but it was not allowed because of an icing call. Regardless, they played hard the last 30 seconds and kept the Blackhawks off the scoreboard to take the win.
The Wild will remain home for their second game of this back-to-back and host the Nashville Predators, another division opponent, on Saturday evening, Nov. 30. The Blackhawks will head home to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 1.
