Suter Scores In 3rd As Wild Beat Blackhawks, 2-1
CHICAGO (AP) —Defenseman Ryan Suter drove to the net and poked in a rebound with 7:56 left in the third period, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
After Chicago's Corey Crawford made an acrobatic right pad save on Mikael Granlund on a breakaway, Granlund missed on a rebound attempt. Suter then cruised to the net and buried a loose puck that was dangling near the goal line.
Chicago forward Patrick Kane scored a power-play goal at 5:21 of the second period to extend his point streak to 20 games. Kane has 12 goals and 20 assists during the longest such run for a U.S.-born player.
The dynamic winger can match Hall of Famer Bobby Hull's franchise record from the 1971-72 season with a goal or an assist Thursday night at Ottawa.
Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in its last seven games.
Minnesota's Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves in his 14th start in 15 games. Crawford finished with 34 stops.
Dubnyk returned to the net after Darcy Kuemper made 40 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Dallas on Saturday when the Stars rallied from a 3-0 deficit.
Kane broke the record for a U.S. player when he got to 19 games with a goal in Chicago's 3-2 overtime loss at Los Angeles on Saturday. He has at least one point in 23 of the Blackhawks' 25 games this season.
The Wild dominated the first period, outshooting Chicago 14-8 and taking a 1-0 lead on Pominville's wraparound goal 4:09 in.
After Crawford stopped Jared Spurgeon's shot from the slot, Granlund fired the rebound to the left of a wide-open net. But Pominville picked up the puck behind the goal line and curled it in around the post before Crawford could react.
Dubnyk robbed Chicago captain Jonathan Toews twice on prime chances in the first. He made a point-blank pad save on rookie Marko Dano's rebound attempt just 15 seconds into the second.
But Kane's 15th goal of the season tied it at 1 five minutes later.
Chicago's Duncan Keith stripped the puck from Mikko Koivu along the boards just inside the Minnesota zone and whipped the puck down low to a wide-open Kane at the inside edge of the circle.
The sellout crowd of 21,580 suddenly went silent for a moment as Kane held the puck and looked to the left to fake Dubnyk. Kane then fired a shot that ticked off the inside of Dubnyk's left pad and continued in.
With Crawford pulled for an extra attacker — and Kane on the ice— the Blackhawks had several chances in the closing two minutes but failed to connect.
NOTES: Kane was named one of the NHL's three stars for November earlier in the day. ... The Blackhawks played their first home game since Nov. 15. They went 3-1-2 on a Western road swing while the circus took over the United Center. ... Minnesota D Marco Scandella returned after missing five games with a lower-body injury. That allowed coach Mike Yeo, who has been scolding his team for poor play over the past week, to switch up his defense pairings. Suter skated with Jonas Brodin and Scandella skated with Spurgeon.
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