CHICAGO – One of their most timid periods of the season was nearing a merciful conclusion when the Wild finally looked like they had a chance to flip momentum in their favor.
They hemmed the Blackhawks in their zone, long enough to make a change and recruit Kirill Kaprizov into the action, and the pressure caused Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek to lose his stick. His teammate Taylor Hall handed off his, and the image of Mrazek trying to protect his crease with Hall’s much skinnier twig made him appear almost as vulnerable as if he were emptyhanded.
But the replacement worked just fine for Mrazek because the Wild’s big break culminated in a dribbler from Jake Middleton that Mrazek easily corralled.
That was the Wild in a nutshell on Sunday night, an out-of-sync, listless attack that still managed to bank a point from a 2-1 overtime loss to the lowly Blackhawks at United Center after a late third-period rally.
Chicago’s Philipp Kurashev capitalized off the rush only 1 minute, 48 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime after Matt Boldy scored a long-awaited equalizer at 15:29 of the third period for a Wild lineup that played like it was feeling the weight of its schedule.
This was the team’s third game in four nights, fifth in eight days and 10th on the road to start the season, and the Wild’s fatigue showed up in the details: They iced the puck unnecessarily, couldn’t hold the puck in the offensive zone and didn’t have the speed required through the neutral zone to catch the Blackhawks off guard.
Mrazek was almost airtight (32 saves) and Chicago ended its two-game slide and lengthy skid vs. the Wild, which had won 12 in a row against the Blackhawks dating back to Feb. 4, 2020.
Back-to-back penalties within the first six minutes of the first period, tripping calls against Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson, was the first sign the Wild were off.
