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 On Tuesday, centers Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund and left
winger Jason Zucker all scored, and goalie Devan Dubnyk had 24 saves
for his third shutout since joining the team as the Wild won their
fourth in a row, beating the Blackhawks 3-0.
"Hopefully that's a sign of things to come," said Wild coach Mike
Yeo. "It's probably not going to go like that every night. First and
foremost, we have to be a team that defensively, nothing comes
before that. When we do that, we give ourselves a chance to win the
game."
Chicago got 40 saves from goalie Corey Crawford, but could not
muster any offense and lost their second in a row. The Blackhawks
have now gone more than 126 minutes without a goal, after they were
blanked 2-0 in San Jose on Saturday.
"In the San Jose game, their goalie played well," Chicago coach Joel
Quenneville said. "Tonight we didn't get to the net at all or have
much zone time. Tonight was different across the board. I don't
think we had too many guys who you could say were dangerous or were
going."
 Playing in his 200th NHL game, Dubnyk, who was acquired by the Wild
in a trade with the Coyotes last month, improved to 6-1-0 since
coming to Minnesota.
"You can see it every game," said Dubnyk, of the team's newfound
confidence. "I'm happy to be a part of it and I'm glad that I came
and was able to help turn it around. I'm not going to sit here and
take all the credit for it. I know how great of a hockey team this
is and eventually they were going to start playing better."
Minnesota emerged from the first period with a two-shot advantage
and a two-goal advantage after Koivu and Zucker both got backhand
shots past Crawford.
Koivu had his initial backhander stopped by the goalie, with a crowd
around him, and the Wild captain had trouble corralling the rebound.
But he got a handle on the puck just in time to lift it from the top
of the crease past the goalie's right arm and into the back of the
net.
Exactly halfway through the opening period, defenseman Marco
Scandella delivered a long lead pass that sprung Zucker on a
breakaway from the blue line. Zucker made a quick stickhandling move
as he approached the net from the right, switching to his backhand
and flipping a shot into the upper right corner.
The Wild have dug themselves a huge hole in their quest to return to
the playoffs, sitting currently well outside the postseason picture,
but Zucker said the three recent road wins, and games like Tuesday
have them believing the worst is over, and there is some hope.
"It's tough sometimes coming off that long of a road trip, coming
home and you kind of get comfortable because you're back home and
you know where you are, you know the building and you know
everything about that," he said. "But you get complacent and
comfortable, especially against a team like that, you're going to
get pounded. So, we had to make sure we came out hard and kept that
momentum."
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The Blackhawks had all they could do to hold on in the second
period, emerging down 3-0 in a 20-minute span that could have been
much worse. Minnesota had 51 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play that
Chicago killed, and the Wild got just one goal, despite out-shooting
the Blackhawks 24-5 in the period.
The third Wild goal came in the second period when left winger Zach
Parise stopped a clearing attempt along the boards then fed a pass
to Granlund in the high slot. Granlund blasted a slap shot that was
past Crawford before the goalie could react. It was the first goal
by Granlund since returning from the injured list. He missed 13
games in December and January with a wrist ailment.
"Tonight we didn't deserve it one bit so we've got no one else to
blame but ourselves," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "We have
to look to ourselves to step it up and answer the call in the next
one. We've got to be big boys and play like it."
NOTES: Wild F Justin Fontaine, who missed Minnesota's 4-2 win on
Sunday in Vancouver due to a groin injury, was placed on injured
reserve by the team on Tuesday. In his place, Minnesota recalled C
Jordan Schroeder from their AHL affiliate in Iowa. ... The
Blackhawks, who last played Saturday night in a 2-0 road loss to the
San Jose Sharks, spent two days in Las Vegas prior to their arrival
in Minnesota on Monday. ... Blackhawks LW Daniel Carcillo did not
play on Tuesday despite being eligible to return to the ice.
Carcillo served a six-game NHL suspension for cross-checking
Winnipeg Jets F Mathieu Perrault on Jan. 16 during a game in
Chicago. ... After spending the past 15 days away from home, the
Wild are playing five of six games at home. They get a three-day
break before hosting the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Chicago, in
the midst of a season-long seven-game road trip, will next visit the
Jets on Friday.
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