The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild were meeting in tumultuous times. Both teams had lost their previous two games, with Minnesota losing 5-4 to the Calgary Flames the night before.
This outing came with a twist. The Wild are the best road team in the NHL, yet the Wild’s one loss to the Blackhawks this season (in three games) came in a 2-1 loss at the United Center in November. The Wild won 4-2 in Chicago again in their final meeting of the season.
Blackhawks Sluggish Start Energized Wild
There wasn’t much going on in the game in the first period on the Blackhawks’ side. They only had one shot on goal, courtesy of Philipp Kurashev. Otherwise, it belonged to the Wild.
It was turnover-central for the Hawks (9 giveaways). Defenseman Ethan Del Mastro turned the puck over to Minnesota’s Marco Rossi, who started a rush with Matt Boldy and Jared Spurgeon, which ended with Spurgeon opening the scoring 1-0 over six minutes in.
Nolan Allan turned the puck over to Marcus Foligno, and it ended up with a weird, fluky goal from Frederick Gaudreau to make it 2-0. The Wild have a knack for scoring fluky goals on Petr Mrazek, as that is not the first time it has happened this season. They were sharp to start.
Wild Added to Lead During Second Period
The second period felt a lot like the third period, as there wasn’t much going on for the Blackhawks, and the Wild added to their lead.
Nick Foligno had two penalties in one play (one for holding on Kirill Kaprizov and one for unsportsmanlike conduct), which was the biggest storyline and probably the most amusing part of the period. But Joel Eriksson Ek converted on the four-minute power-play to make it 3-0.
Chicago had four shots on goal, and Minnesota had seven shots. It wasn’t very entertaining, but it was enough for the Wild.
Blackhawks and Wild Had Entertaining Ending, Wild Delivered
What a fun battle the third period turned out to be.
It started when Jake Middleton took a cross-checking penalty, and Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones converted on the power play to put his team on the board 3-1. His goal and effort in the third period gave the Blackhawks life as they started to apply a lot of pressure, which drew up the physicality for both sides. Pat Maroon and Jake Middleton got into a scrum that gave both unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Frank Nazar scored on the four-on-four to make it 3-2. The battles continued as Ryan Donato and Zach Bogosian got into a wrestling match during the goal celebrations, which resulted in roughing penalties for both.
Maroon, a big factor in bringing the energy in the period, drew a penalty on Marcus Foligno. The Blackhawks had some looks but were not able to tie the game. Del Mastro got a holding penalty shortly after. Mats Zuccarello had a Grade-A chance that was stopped by Mrazek, which kept Chicago alive.
Related: Projected Lineups for the Wild vs Blackhawks – 1/26/25
Del Mastro drew a penalty on Jakob Lauko with five minutes left that the Hawks did not convert on, and Marcus Foligno scored an empty net goal at the end of the game for the Wild to win 4-2.
It was a messy end to the game with penalties, but it was the competitiveness we are used to seeing from these two teams when they get together. Chicago played better than the Wild in the third, but Minnesota closed the game when needed, as they were the better team for most of the game.
