Blackhawks Stop 3-Game Slide With Win Over Wild
CHICAGO (AP) -- Marian Hossa scored the lone goal in the shootout, and the banged-up Chicago Blackhawks stopped a three-game slide with a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford made 25 saves through overtime, and then stopped all three Minnesota attempts in the shootout. Hossa connected on the Blackhawks' second attempt in the tiebreaker by powering a shot through Ilya Bryzgalov.
It was Chicago's first game since coach Joel Quenneville said captain Jonathan Toews would miss the rest of the regular season due to an upper-body injury. The Blackhawks also were without Patrick Kane, another star forward who is expected to miss the rest of the regular season because of a lower-body injury.
Chicago did get Bryan Bickell back from an injury, and he scored a tiebreaking goal in the third period. Ben Smith also scored for the Blackhawks.
Charlie Coyle and Erik Haula scored for Minnesota, which moved five points ahead of Dallas and Phoenix in the battle for two Western Conference wild-card playoff spots. Bryzgalov stopped 24 shots through overtime.
Haula scored his fourth goal on a screened shot with 1:54 left, tying it at 2. He snapped off a shot from the right circle that sailed between the legs of Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and then deflected in off Crawford's glove.
Coyle scored the only goal of the first on a quirky tip-in.
Jared Spurgeon drifted in from the right point and fired. His shot hit Hjalmarsson's stick, then deflected off the blade of Coyle's stick and flipped over Crawford's glove at 14:19.
Smith tied it at 2:29 of the second with his 11th goal.
Bryzgalov stopped Nick Leddy's low drive from the left point, and then got his left pad in front of Brandon's Saad rebound attempt. Smith popped in the loose puck from a scrum in front.
Zach Parise, who leads Minnesota with 28 goals, was hit hard from behind in open ice by Chicago's Brandon Bollig at 8:34 of the second period. After lying face down on the ice for a minute, he was helped to the dressing room by one of the Wild trainers, but returned later in the period.
Minnesota's Kyle Brodziak broke in and deked Crawford to the ice with 1:15 left in the second, but fired wide.
Bickell, who was sidelined for six games with an upper-body injury, beat Bryzgalov on a rebound of his initial point-blank attempt at 2:45 of the third period. But Haula sent the game to overtime, where the Wild outshot the Blackhawks 3-2 in a cautious period.
Toews got hurt when he was drilled by Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik in the second period on Sunday. Kane was injured March 19 against St. Louis and has missed seven straight games.
Quenneville has said both stars will be ready for the playoffs.
NOTES: Blackhawks D Johnny Oduya was a last-minute scratch with a lower-body injury. ... Chicago C Joakim Nordstrom, recalled from Rockford of the AHL on Wednesday, played. ... Minnesota F Jake Dowell and G John Curry, both recalled from Iowa of the AHL on Tuesday, were in the lineup. Curry backed up Bryzgalov. ... Out with injuries for Minnesota were Fs Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter (upper body), Ds Clayton Stoner and Keith Ballard (both lower body), and G Darcy Kuemper (upper body).
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