In St Paul, Ryan Hartman snapped a 1-1 tie in the third period to help send the Minnesota Wild to a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in a Saturday matinee.
Cam Talbot made 21 saves in the Wild win.
“We played as good a game defensively as we had in a while, and that’s what it takes this time of year,” Talbot said. “There’s no blowouts, really, this time of year; it’s going to be those one-, two-goal games with an empty-netter kind of thing. You have to be comfortable with those situations, and the last couple of games we’ve shown that we can play those.”
Minnesota improved to 36-20-4.
Seth Jones had the Blackhawks only goal, he tied the game., 1-1, in the third.
The Blackhawks dropped to 22-31-9.
“I thought we played well,” Chicago coach Derek King said. “That’s a good hockey team. … ‘Lanks’ was outstanding, he kept us in the game. We had our opportunities, we just had a little breakdown on that go-ahead goal. … Overall a pretty solid effort.”
Frederick Gaudreau scored late in the opening period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.
“We didn’t score tonight like we’ve been accustomed to, certainly early in the year,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “We were getting four, five goals. It’s not going to happen anymore. We liked how we did play defensively, and we didn’t press. We had great looks, no question about that. Wasn’t going in and we didn’t panic.
“We just stayed the course. Kept doing what the Minnesota Wild do and we were fortunate to catch a break and get one. That’s playoff hockey. It’s the time of year that you’re not going to score easy goals. And I don’t care who you’re playing in this league. At this time of year, everybody’s tight and playing properly, so really happy with that end of our game.”
Jordan Greenway added a late empty-net goal to seal the win for Minnesota.
Kevin Lankinen made 31 saves in the Chicago loss.
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