Chicago is the first stop in the three-game sweep of the NHL from Tuesday. The Minnesota Wild punched their improbable ticket to the post season with a 2-1 win over the Blackhawks.
Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves for the win and backstopped a tenuous 2-0 lead until Bryan Bickell scored with less than two minutes left in regulation.
As early as January the Wild were in disarray and had lost 13 of 19 and in danger of ruining several predictions out of PHN for the post season.
“Everything was going wrong,” Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. “Everything was going in, bad bounces and all, and now he’s there, and we have that confidence back. He’s come in and made the timely save when he needs to, and he’s done a really good job for us.”
The Wild have not won anything yes except a pass to the post season.
“A humble swagger, if that’s a word,” said forward Zach Parise. “We just like the way we’re playing. We haven’t looked at the big picture. We were in a tough spot and we just had to win games. We couldn’t look too far ahead and we did a good job of that. We maintained that for a long time, which is hard to do.”
Chicago pressed throughout the game but were unable to match the emotion from the Wild.
“We tried to make plays [in the third] and turned pucks over, and that led to plays in our own end,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “[The Wild have] gotten better the last three years. They’ve got some younger guys, they’ve got some depth, they’ve got some speed and skill throughout their lineup, and they check extremely well, and they can frustrate you. They’ll make you pay if you try to take them on.”
In Calgary, Sean Monahan put the Flames ahead of the Arizona Coyotes by a 3-2 count midway through the third period and Jonas Hiller made that stand up for the win; Hiller had 22 saves on the night for the Flames.
The Flames also had goals from Johnny Gaudreau and David Jones and are now two points clear of the Los Angeles Kings who lost Tuesday in Edmonton.
“There are so many things going on. You never know,” Hiller said. “At the end, we’ve got to win one of those last two games. I’d rather win on Thursday and we can go to Winnipeg knowing we’ve made the playoffs. It’s going to be a tough game. They have their backs against the wall too, fighting for their lives. It’s going to be a big matchup. I think everybody is excited about it.”
B.J. Crombeen and Craig Cunningham scored for Arizona.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys, who should be really excited to play and everybody; if you’re playing in the National Hockey League, it’s an honor, and our first period just wasn’t good enough from pretty much everybody,” Arizona forward David Moss said.
In Ottawa, the Senators staked the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-0 lead in the first period then slammed the door.
Mark Stone scored twice, including the game-winner in extra time, to help rally the Sens to a 4-3 win.
“We had a great first, and between periods we talked about it, we had to play the same way,” said Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. “They came out pretty hard and they competed until the end. It was a bit of a lucky bounce on the first goal for them and a couple of screens. We’ve got to find a way to keep battling until the end. They were hungry for the win and they got it.
“It will take a little while to swallow this game. After that, we have to put it behind and make sure we’re ready for the game against Long Island. We need points. We need to win.”
Andrew Hammond had 25 saves in the win and settled down after a near disastrous first period.
“I think the confidence we’ve built up over this ride kind of gives us the ability to fight through situations where it seems like our backs are against the wall,” Hammond said. “We’ve had our backs against the wall this whole time, trying to make the playoffs.
“Tonight doesn’t necessarily change that, but we just keep proving that we can keep fighting with them there.”
After grabbing the big lead, the Pens seemingly disappeared despite knowing a win in regulation would send them to the post season.
“If we would have got that fourth one, it would have been a much better situation,” Sidney Crosby said. “They got a good bounce on the shorthanded one there in the second. We were probably guilty of sitting back a bit and making a few mistakes.
“We’ve got to wipe this one away. We’ve got two games left here to earn the right to play in the playoffs. It’s up to us now.”
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