The Chicago Blackhawks were defeated by the Minnesota Wild in overtime by a final score of 4-3.
The Chicago Blackhawks welcomed the Minnesota Wild to the United Center on Tuesday night for some St. Patrick's Day hockey. That also meant a return for Nick Foligno, who was traded just a couple of weeks ago.
Although Foligno would never get quite the ovation that a guy like Jonathan Toews got as a former captain, the organization and its fans are clearly happy with him for the way he conducted himself while playing an important leadership role during the rebuild.
Right after the TV timeout in which Foligno was honored, a different former Blackhawks player found the back of the net. Brock Faber and Kirill Kaprizov made a nice play to set up Ryan Hartman in front of the net to make it 1-0 at 6:17.
Just over a minute later (7:58), Marcus Johansson made it 2-0 Wild. At that point, it looked like the Wild were going to end their losing streak in a big way.
Louis Crevier, who leads the NHL in shots over 100 mph, had something to say about that. After Frank Nazar sent him into the attacking zone, he blasted a 102 mph shot past Filip Gustafsson to get the Blackhawks on the board at 10:47.
Crevier's shot was the fastest to find the back of an NHL net this season of any player on any team. He is becoming a true weapon in all three zones.
The Wild were awarded a power play chance late in the opening frame, and Vladimir Tarasenko took full advantage. He has scored a lot of big goals at the United Center, and this one put his team back up by two. Tarasenko's snipe came as the result of a brilliant passing play by Marcus Johansson and Brock Faber.
That 3-1 score held in favor of Minnesota through the first intermission. They played much better and walked into the dressing room with a well-deserved lead.
In the second period, the Wild and Blackhawks played a mostly even period. Shots were 11-10 in favor of Chicago, which was an incredible improvement over the 16-7 advantage that Minnesota had in the first. The Wild somewhat continued their good play early in the middle frame, but the Blackhawks got back on track in the second half of the period.
One of those second-period shots went in for the Blackhawks. Ryan Greene scored at the net-mouth thanks to some digging by Connor Bedard. Louis Crevier also collected an assist on the goal. The 3-2 score went to the second intermission.
In the third period, Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson left the game for an undisclosed reason. He was replaced by Jesper Wallstedt, but then Gustavsson came back in to finish the game. Wallstedt only played for 3:27.
Late in the third period, Artyom Levshunov made a nice play to spring Connor Bedard, who had Frank Nazar with him. Bedard made a perfect pass to Nazar for him to tie it up at 3 at 18:20 of the third period. Like the previous two matchups between the two clubs this season, it went to overtime, tied at three.
The future was on display with this goal, with three first-round picks who are pillars of the franchise combining to tie the game.
In overtime, Mats Zuccarello scored after the Wild possessed the puck for almost the entire extra frame. All three matchups between the two clubs this year have ended with the Wild winning 4-3 in extra time.
It's another example of the young Blackhawks showing good fight, but failing to finish the job in the end.
A positive takeaway for Chicago is that the one point collected by the game reaching overtime is their 62nd of the season, which eclipses last year's total with 14 games remaining on the schedule. It won't be a drastic improvement, but still an improvement despite the team getting even younger.
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What’s Next For The Blackhawks?
The Blackhawks will be back in action again on Thursday. They will take on the Minnesota Wild in the second leg of a home-and-home. Like with the Utah Mammoth last week, the young Blackhawks have a chance to get a similar feel to playing the same opponent over and over, like the playoffs.
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