ST. PAUL, Minn. – When you’re chasing a Wild Card spot with two weeks left in the regular season, every game takes the feel of a playoff game. With every point a necessity at this point, the Minnesota Wild are certainly doing their part.
The WIld broke open a 1-1 tie in the third period on goals from Jared Spurgeon, Erik Haula 
and a Nino Niederreiter empty-netter to beat the Blackhawks 4-1. The Wild are on a six-game winning streak since an embarrassing 7-4 loss on St. Patrick’s Day to New Jersey.
“It was a stand by all of us in this locker room. Enough was enough,” Wild defenseman Matt Dumba said of the win streak. “We were sick of losing to teams we probably shouldn’t be losing to. It was preparing for each night, playing with the mentality that we have to win all of our battles.
“We’ve gotta collect all these points. Other teams aren’t in the situation we are. We have to go forward and make a good push.”
Combined with Colorado’s Tuesday night loss to St. Louis, the Wild are 5 points ahead of the Avalanche for the second Wild Card spot with five games to play. The are also four points behind Nashville for the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Spurgeon’s breakaway goal at 4:07 of the third period was the game-winner. Mikko Koivu carried the puck into the zone on pass from Pominville. Perfect touch pass to Spurgeon, goes backhand up high from in tight.
“Mikko and [Pominville] made a great play and to begin it [Parise] won a huge battle behind the net,” Spurgeon said. “Fortunately I was on the receiving end.”
Minnesota got on the board with their first shot on goal — and it came from their fourth line.
Jordan Schroeder held the puck up at his own blue line where Mike Reilly took it from him and came through the neutral zone with speed. He found Jarret Stoll entering the zone down the right wing, where he beat Darling over his blocker.
Minnesota, whose power play had been 5-15 in the last three games, misfired on their first opportunity after a Marian Hossa tripping penalty. But then came their opportunity to blow the game open.
Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith was checked to the ice by Charlie Coyle. Keith took exception and swung his stick at the Wild forward, clipping his nose and opening up a cut. Keith went to the dressing room for a 5-minute match penalty for intent to injure.
Instead of taking the opportunity to extend the lead, the Blackhawks took advantage.
Michal Rozsival chipped the puck high out of the zone, where Ryan Suter backed off the puck. Jonathan Toews picked up the puck and found Hossa in behind Suter, where he finished over Devan Dubnyk’s blocker at 11:55. The goal was the 499th goal of Hossa’s storied career.
Minnesota finished that power play with two shots on goal and Dumba hitting the goal post.
Darling kept the Blackhawks in the game in the second period. At 1:20 in, Haula stole the puck and sent Pominville and Niedereitter in a on a 2-on-0 from the face circle in. Niederrietter fed the puck to Pominville only to have Darling make a blocker save.
Later in the period, Matt Dumba and Andrew Shaw squared off at center ice. The two got tangled up in the first period a couple times, and Dumba speculated that the fight may have been retribution for a hit he laid on Patrick Kane in Chicago on March. 20.
Haula extended his point streak to nine games when he gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead. The play started back in the Minnesota zone where Dumba won a battle on the right-wing boards. Haula picked up the puck and chipped it up to Niederreiter, who won his battle with Chicago defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Trevor Van Riemsdyk. Van Riemsdyk was late getting back to Haula in the middle, who took the pass from Niederreiter and slid a backhand through Darling’s legs.
Dumba said the Wild’s third line of Pominville, Niederreiter and Haula has been a huge boost for the team.
“These guys have been animals,” Dumba said. “Everyone’s contributing. They’re working each day for their opportunities and they’ve gained some chemistry together. Hopefully that line stays hot.”
Once the Blackhawks lost Keith, it left the team without its two best defensemen; the Blackhawks were already without Brent Seabrook, who was out of the lineup ill. Keith is suspended indefinitely pending a hearing because it was a match penalty.
The 2005-06 season was last time the Blackhawks played without Seabrook and Keith in a game.
“It’s not easy. We did a good job of recognizing we were short-staffed defensively,” Blackhawks’ captain Jonathan Toews said. “For the most part we played pretty well.”
The Blackhawks had a 19-18 shots on goal advantage. The game, like many of the Wild’s must-win affairs of late, had the feel of a playoff game. Wild interim coach John Torchetti has said the staff has been stressing being more detail-oriented in their game.
“We want it every shift,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting it every shift. That’s the bottom line. In the playoffs you can’t have a shift off. Next thing you know it’s in the net and you might lose 1-0. We’ve got to be detailed to win a game 1-0 or 2-1 or 4-1.”
With the win, the Wild swept the season series from Chicago, winning all five games. It marked the third time in Chicago’s storied history that it was swept in a season series of five or more games.
Dating back to last season, Minnesota has won seven straight regular season games against Chicago. The playoffs tell a very different story as the Blackhawks have ended the Wild’s season three straight years.
“It’s a big plus, but we all know when it counts is in the playoffs,” Torchetti said. “We should know how to play them.”
Toews said that winning this game wouldn’t have been a consolation for the season series.
“If we would have won tonight, we wouldn’t be satisfied going 1-4,” Toews said. “Obviously it adds insult to injury to lose this one tonight. It’s not fun to look back and have a record like that in a team in your division.”
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