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 Unfortunately for the Minnesota Wild, they were the target of the
Blackhawks' ire, as Chicago earned a decisive 4-1 win Sunday at the
United Center.
"It was a tough loss (5-2) for us in Edmonton, so the guys were
ready for it tonight," Chicago goalie Corey Crawford said. "Everyone
came to play today. It was nice to get some goals early. It was just
a solid game all around."
Right winger Marian Hossa, center Brad Richards and left winger
Bryan Bickell each had one goal and one assist apiece to pace the
Blackhawks.
Defenseman Johnny Oduya also scored, while team captain and center
Jonathan Toews and right winger Patrick Kane each added a pair of
assists.
Chicago, which had lost four of its previous eight games, improves
to 28-13-2, including a 3-0 record vs. Minnesota thus far this
season.
"We had some good stretches throughout the game and some tough
stretches, but for the most part, a lot more complete than we saw in
our recent games," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said.
 Sunday was Chicago's fifth game in eight nights. The Blackhawks now
have four days off before they play host to the Winnipeg Jets on
Friday.
"With the four days off here, at least we're going away feeling
better about ourselves than our recent couple of games," Quenneville
added. "I think we had such a busy stretch, it will be nice to get a
breather here and get excited about our nice, busy stretch going
into the All-Star break."
Minnesota, meanwhile, continued the terrible tailspin it has been in
as of late. The Wild have now lost five straight and 11 of their
last 13 games, falling to 18-18-5.
"It felt like more of the same," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. "I
don't know if we're uptight or whatever, but we were on our heels.
We were watching them come at us. We spent a lot of time in our zone
because of that."
But Yeo and the Wild are not panicking.
"I'm confident in this group and what we're capable of, but we have
to be better," Yeo said. "I'm not going to sit around and just hope
that things are going to get better. We have to find a way to be
better. We have to bring more to the rink every day."
Crawford (17-8-2) made 36 saves, while Wild counterpart Niklas
Backstrom (5-6-3) stopped 31 of the Blackhawks' 35 shots.
With No. 1 goalie Darcy Kuemper on injured reserve with a lower-body
injury and an unknown timetable for his return, Twin Cities media
reports claim the Wild are actively looking for a new goalie to
bolster their roster.
Minnesota left winger Matt Cooke broke up Crawford's bid for a
shutout with his third goal of the season at 15:08 of the third
period.
"They outskated us tonight," Cooke said of the Blackhawks. "(We)
have to dig yourself out (of the current slump). It doesn't get any
easier.
"No one's just going to give us a win. We have to go out and keep
tipping the scales the other way."
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Chicago took a quick 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the
first period.
Hossa tallied his ninth goal of the season, with assists from Toews
and left winger Brandon Saad at 4:17.
Chicago's second goal was set up by Kane, bottled up in front of the
Minnesota net. Kane then dished off a pass to his left to Bickell,
who buried a wrist shot past Backstrom.
It was the ninth goal of the season for Bickell, with the tally
coming at 7:53. Richards also earned an assist on the play.
Chicago made it 3-0 midway through the second period when Kane's
shot was deflected onto the stick of Richards, who quickly pushed it
past Backstrom.
It was Richards' ninth goal of the season. In addition to Kane,
Bickell also picked up an assist.
Minnesota failed to capitalize on a penalty shot at 16:17 of the
second period when Oduya hooked Jason Zucker from behind as the Wild
center zoomed in on Crawford.
Zucker tried to deke Crawford on the penalty shot, but his wrister
was off target, sailing wide to the right of the net.
Chicago made it 4-0 at 18:25 of the middle period when Oduya
hammered a loose puck past Backstrom for only his second goal of the
season. Toews and Hossa earned assists.
NOTES: Blackhawks LW Kris Versteeg remains out with a left hand
injury. Sunday was the fifth game Versteeg missed. It's expected
that he will miss at least another couple weeks. ... Healthy
scratches for Chicago were F Joakim Nordstrom and D Tim Erixon. ...
Healthy scratches for Minnesota were C Jordan Schroeder, D Marco
Scandella and D Justin Falk. ... The Wild will travel late Thursday
after their game at Buffalo to be back home to attend Friday's
funeral of former Minnesota North Stars standout J.P. (Jean-Paul)
Parise, father of Wild player Zach Parise, who died Wednesday of
lung cancer at the age of 73. The funeral will be held in Edina,
Minn. ... The attendance was 21,809.
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