Wild at Blackhawks
The Minnesota Wild pulled out of a downward spiral with a big victory last time out and look to extend their lead in the Central Division when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. The Wild dropped three of four games before rallying for the final four goals to beat Florida 7-4 on Friday and lead the Blackhawks by three points in the Central.
“I thought we played well,” Minnesota forward Zach Parise, who had a goal and an assist, told the Star Tribune. “We didn’t play well the last two (games). But you know what, I think that means that we’ve set the standard pretty high, when it feels like panic sets in when we lose two games in a row. That means we’re doing some good things this year.” The Blackhawks lost three straight at home against the Wild since the 2015 playoffs, but won the last two meetings in Minnesota - both in February. Chicago cooled off since a seven-game winning streak overall, losing 1-0 against Anaheim on Thursday at home before a dispiriting 4-2 setback at Detroit on Friday. Patrick Kane was held to one assist in the last two games for the Blackhawks, but has nine goals in his last seven contests to pull within one of his third season with 30.
TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, NBC, TVAS
ABOUT THE WILD (43-17-6): Minnesota had several players struggling offensively before Friday’s contest but many of them pulled out of slumps with points, including Charlie Coyle. The power forward had a goal and an assist after going 10 games without a point while fellow forward Jason Zucker matched him following a four-game drought and Nino Niederreiter had an assist after being pointless for five straight. Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist as well and leads the team with a career-high 62 points – 11 better than fellow forward Eric Staal, who scored twice Friday.
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (42-20-5): Kane tops the team with 71 points, which was tied for second in the league entering Saturday, and Artemi Panarin has points in six of the last seven to reach 59. Chicago boasts three more players with at least 44 points, including captain Jonathan Toews (48), defenseman Duncan Keith (45) and center Artem Anisimov (44, team-best 22 goals). Defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and newly reacquired Johnny Oduya sat out the second contest of a back-to-back as a precaution Friday after returning from injuries, but could be back Sunday.
OVERTIME
1. Chicago RW Marian Hossa scored 12 of his 21 goals at home this season, but has no points and a minus-3 rating against the Wild in 2016-17.
2. Minnesota G Devan Dubnyk came on in relief to stop 11-of-12 shots in the third period Friday to tie for the league lead through Friday with 36 wins.
3. The Blackhawks are 3-for-21 over the last 10 games and the Wild converted 2-for-22 in the past seven on the power play.