A two-goal Blackhawks lead disappeared during a three-goal second period for the Wild in a 3-2 loss on Friday afternoon in St. Paul.
Like the Blackhawks’ last a game, a quick goal put them up 1-0 early. This time, it was a shot from Ryan Donato doing the honors just over two minutes into the game:
What a shot by Ryan Donato to give the Blackhawks an early 1-0 lead pic.twitter.com/dWox81uD0Z
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 29, 2024
That lead was doubled in the second during a Blackhawks’ power play, with some nifty work by Connor Bedard establishing possession in the offensive zone ahead of Donato’s second of the game:
What a zone entry by Connor Bedard on Ryan Donato's second goal of the game. #Blackhawks https://t.co/0n1fGURMtv pic.twitter.com/3brl6JcZ56
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 29, 2024
Minnesota took control for the rest of the period with a trio of goals in just over seven minutes of gametime, starting with Marco Rossi:
Minnesota goal!
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) November 29, 2024
Scored by Marco Rossi with 09:38 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Marcus Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov.
Minnesota: 1
Chicago: 2#CHIvsMIN #mnwild #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/DUci8yLXQ7
Jared Spurgeon had the next two, with each of the goals more fluky than fabulous:
Blackhawks fail to clear it out of the zone and the puck later deflects off Murphy into the net for the Wild's second goal.
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 2:18 PM
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Mrázek can't hold onto Spurgeon's shot from distance.
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) November 29, 2024 at 2:34 PM
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And that was it for the goal scoring.
Notes
The Blackhawks started the game pretty well, scoring early and keeping play even with the Wild for the first half of the period. However, the Wild basically took over in the second half, and the Blackhawks ended up being out attempted 22-7, out shot 8-4, and had only 33.33 percent of the expected goals for the period. The rest of the game was more even in terms of play, but the Wild did have the better chances — 14-8 — in the final 40 minutes but high-danger quality wasn’t too bad — just 5. However, this was still a good game from the Blackhawks that two flukey goals that impacted the game.
Bedard’s goal drought was well-documented before it ended on Wednesday night but little plays like this would still pop up from time to time and offer some solace that improved teammates around him in the future will he ensure he never goes through a scoring drought of that magnitude again.
Great find by Bedard to set up an Alec Martinez chance pic.twitter.com/IdmSEynges
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 29, 2024
It was obvious that Bedard was really feeling himself tonight. He ended the game 7 shot attempts, 4 shots on goal, and 3 scoring chances in 19:34.
So, even though the Blackhawks lost this game, perhaps the decent outing from Bedard combined with the offensive outburst from Wednesday night suggests that maybe … just maybe … these lines can stay together for a bit?
Complaining too much about officiating is for losers but even the neutral observes thought the Hawks caught the wrong side of some calls.
Wednesday’s game was certainly an outlier based on how many goals Chicago scored, with today feeling a little closer to what we can expect for the rest of the season. A close game with a couple Chicago mistakes directly leading to goals against. Seems like Sunday would be a similarly close game, but perhaps eliminating those kinds of mistakes puts Chicago back on the positive side of the scoreboard.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Jared Spurgeon (MIN) — 2 goals
- Ryan Donato (CHI) — 2 goals
- Marc-Andre Fleury (MIN) — 20 saves on 22 shots
What’s Next
The Blackhawks return to the United Center for a Sunday afternoon game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 2 p.m.