Chicago’s Philipp Kurashev snuffed out the Wild’s rally when he wired a puck past goaltender Filip Gustavsson (20 saves) off the rush at 1:50 of 3-on-3 overtime to give the Blackhawks their first win in 13 games against the Wild, but getting even one point looked like a pipe dream during the Wild’s first two periods.
This was the team’s third game in four nights, fifth in eight days and 10th on the road to start the season. After sweeping the California portion of their trip vs. San Jose and Anaheim, the Wild left the West Coast on Saturday morning and arrived in Chicago in the evening, and their fatigue showed up in the details. They iced the puck unnecessarily, couldn’t hold the zone at the offensive blue line and didn’t have enough speed through the neutral zone to catch Chicago off guard.
In their own zone, a dump-in hopped over Jake Middleton’s stick along the boards, and the Blackhawks’ Jason Dickinson scooped up the puck before skating to the middle, where he flung the puck around Wild traffic and behind Gustavsson for an unassisted goal with 3:16 left in the first period.
In the second, Hynes started shaking up the lines.
“Sometimes as a player, you get a different line combo, you get a different guy, it kind of ignites you,” Hynes explained. “It just helps, I think sometimes, mentally. It gets guys aware on the bench. It brings some energy. You gotta know who you’re changing for. At times, that’s why you do it.”
Still, the Wild were off.