Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout and have now earned at least a point in each of their last 6 games.
The Blackhawks dominated the first period outshooting Minnesota 11-2, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Chicago went on power play 7:06 into the second period. While they were on it, Duncan Keith made an incredible defensive play denying Matt Cullen on a breakaway to keep the game scoreless. A frustrated Cullen resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gave the Blackhawks a two-man advantage.
Marian Hossa capitalized on that power play poking home a rebound past Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom. Less than two minutes later, Michael Frolik caught a lucky bounce and scored his second goal in the last 15 games.
After a questionable waved off icing call, Kyle Brodziak took advantage of a confused Blackhawks defense and quickly cut the lead in half. Over two minutes later, Matt Cullen made up for his previous penalty and evened up the score at 2 a piece.
Just under 7 minutes into the third period, Jonathan Toews danced around a couple Wild defenders and roofed a shot past Niklas Backstrom to put the Blackhawks up 3-2.
On a delayed penalty with nearly 5 minutes to go in regulation, Mikko Koivo tied the game up at 3 after his shot deflected off of defenseman Nick Leddy and in past Ray Emery.
Overtime: scoreless. Shootout? Ray Emery denied both shooters. Jonathan Toews scored on his usual five-hole shot, but Patrick Kane’s shootout goal was the winner and arguably had the shootout goal of the year so far. Just nasty.
NOTES
- Ray Emery had another strong outing for the Blackhawks stopping 26 of 29 shots (including 15 of 16 in the third period), but most importantly, earned his third straight win.
- Jonathan Toews now has 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists) in his last 9 games and has a +7 rating during that stretch.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Chicago Blackhawks head back home and take on a newly-coached Anaheim Ducks team on Friday night; puck drop at 7:30pm CT!
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