RECAP: Blackhawks Take Down Wild in OT

CHICAGO – Philipp Kurashev scored at 1:50 of overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 2-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at United Center on Sunday.

Seth Jones intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and fed the puck to Kurashev, who scored from the top of the left circle for his third career overtime goal.

“Just a good drive by ‘Jonesy,’ and I was able to shoot through the guys,” Kurashev said. “It went in, so it was good.

“Yeah, I think it has been tough for us all year to play a full 60 minutes. So we have to find a way to, even if the game is tied, stay in it and not let teams back in it. We got away with it today but we’ve got to learn from it.”

Petr Mrazek made 32 saves for the Blackhawks (6-9-1), who had lost two in a row.

“They're a good team,” Mrazek said. “We all know that. Their record says it all. We were prepared the first two periods. Great penalty killing in the third. The whole game, the penalty kill was outstanding, so that was the key that we got the win tonight.”

Matt Boldy scored, and Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves for the Wild (10-2-3), who had won two in a row. Minnesota finished a stretch of three games in four nights, all on the road. The Wild had won 12 straight against the Blackhawks dating to February 4, 2020.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “Five out of six points on the road trip. And coming into this game, I thought we played a heck of a third period. We dug in. We just kept grinding and grinding and grinding. That’s how you have to find ways to games, get points in games. Just really proud of the mental toughness and the physical toughness of the guys as the game continued to go on.”

Boldy's goal in front off a pass from Kirill Kaprizov at 15:29 of the third period tied the game 1-1.

“Just sticking with it,” Boldy said. “Guys made some good plays, and [I was] able to find the back of the net. That’s the positive. We were able to get a point, but you obviously want to win.

“You want all six [points], obviously, but to find ways to get to five is promising. But we got better than what we showed tonight.”

Jason Dickinson’s unassisted goal at 16:44 of the first period gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. Dickinson picked up the puck along the right-wing boards in the offensive zone, skated into the slot and scored on a wrist shot.

Mrazek made a save using forward Taylor Hall's stick late in the second period. He made two saves against Marco Rossi with just over six minutes gone in the third period. The Wild outshot the Blackhawks 19-4 in the third period.

“[Mrazek] was really dialed in and definitely the best player on both teams tonight, for sure,” said Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson. “I thought we played a really solid game, but he was there all game when we needed him. The third period, they kind of turned it on and we stopped making plays, and they had the puck too much and Petr was excellent and kept us in there right to the end.”

NOTES: Kaprizov became the third player in Wild history with a nine-game road point streak, joining Joel Eriksson Ek (10 games, Dec. 31, 2022 to Feb. 8, 2023) and Eric Staal (10 games, Dec. 4, 2016 to Jan. 14, 2017).