Chciago get past Wild in OT on Toews goal, 4-3

In St Paul Wednesday,  the Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews scored a power play goal with less than two minutes left in extra time to defeat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3.

Corey Crawford had 35 saves in OT win over Wild – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

The win snapped an eight-game losing skid the Hawks had suffered at the hands of the Wild.

“Yeah, it was a huge win,” Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had to win the game to keep us within striking distance. … We did a lot of big things and had the start we were looking for as well. Tough to give up that one at the very end, but certainly getting the two points was important.”

Corey Crawford made 35 saves to help Chicago improve to 33-17-5.

“There was some added meaning to [this game], for our team anyways,” Toews  said. “We hadn’t played since Saturday night, so it’s not always easy to get back for those when you get a break. … We had some energy and tried to wear them down, but obviously it’s a team that works pretty hard. They didn’t go away. Nice for us to find that resiliency and find a way to get a power-play goal at the end.”

Ryan Hartman and Nick Schmaltz had given the Hawks a 2-0 before the Wild got on the board with a goal from Jared Spurgeon.

Minnesota knotted it at 2-2 when Zach Parise with just over seven minutes gone in the middle frame.

“That’s a big compliment for us from a team like that. You usually look at the [Blackhawks] as a measuring stick to see where you are compared to everyone else. That shows we’re playing the right way on most nights. We know there’s still a lot of hockey and a lot of games left, so we have to make sure we keep improving and we’re peaking at the right time,” Parise said of the effort Wednesday night.