M. Foligno breaks tie in 3rd, Wild edge Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Marcus Foligno scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period for the Minnesota Wild in a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday.

Vinni Lettieri, who was playing his first game since Dec. 30 because of a lower-body injury, had two assists for the Wild (22-23-5), who had lost their final two games prior to the All-Star break. Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves.

“It wasn’t pretty today,” Gustavsson said. “The second period was very bad for us. Then in the third, we just found a way to win today. It wasn’t pretty. It’s not the best. It wasn’t what we should do. We’ve got to learn from it tomorrow. Watch the video. Take the two points from this game and leave it there.”

Nick Foligno, Marcus’ brother, scored for the Blackhawks (14-35-2), who have lost five in a row. Petr Mrazek made 23 saves.

“I think we just stopped moving our feet at both ends of the rink,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “They kind of took over the second half of that first period, and we didn’t have a sharp power play. But I thought our penalty killing did a good job. We were just on our heels the second half of the first period, for sure."

Jacob Lucchini gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 12:27 of the first period, scoring with a one-timer from above the circles off a pass from Lettieri. The shot was originally ruled no goal, but play was stopped a short time later after a video review determined the puck crossed the goal line.

It was Lucchini's second NHL goal and first since Jan. 1, 2023.

“I saw it hit the post,” Lucchini said. “I thought it hit post post and went out. But the second post that I thought it was … it didn’t sound right. I had no idea.

“Any goal you score in the NHL is special. United Center against the Blackhawks is obviously pretty cool, but it was definitely special.”

The Wild outshot the Blackhawks 11-1 in the first period.

“I actually really liked our start,” Nick Foligno said. “And then they score and it's like we fell back into bad habits of, ‘Just now they're coming,’ instead of just pushing back. And that's what disappointed me in that first period. We started falling back and letting them attack, and we had no jam in our game at all. We talked about it in between periods, and I thought we came out with a lot better effort in the second and third. That's just how we have to play.”

Nick Foligno tied the game 1-1 at 13:44 of the second period. Philipp Kurashev put the puck between the legs of Zach Bogosian and sent a backhand pass to Foligno for a tap-in from the edge of the crease.

“It's nice as a line,” Foligno said. “We felt that before the break we were doing a lot of good things and just weren't getting them across the goal line. Today it was nice to get that one, but we're starving for goals.”

Marcus Foligno put Minnesota back in front 2-1 at 10:07 of the third when he tapped in a centering pass from Lettieri.

“Unbelievable,” Foligno said of the feed from Lettieri. “I think (Frederick) Gaudreau did an awesome (line) change. Vinni comes flying off. I had a chance there coming around the net, and it was nice to get it back. Vinni, unbelievable game by him. He stopped a goal, too (at 16:25 of the third period in the crease). He was all over it tonight.”

Wild coach John Hynes liked his team’s ability to respond in the third period.

“We had  good first period,” he said. “Then we came out and we got outcompeted, outskated, outexecuted in the second period. You can’t win hockey games like that. We had passengers, particularly in the second period. In the third period, we were better. The good thing is we won the game, which is important, but we’ve got to be much better collectively as a group moving forward here.”

NOTES: The Wild announced before the game that forward Pat Maroon will be out 4-6 weeks following back surgery on Tuesday. … Brock Faber had an assist and has 30 points (four goals, 26 assists) in 50 games this season, tying Filip Kuba (2000-01) for the most by a rookie defenseman in Wild history. Faber’s 26 assists are also tied for the most in a season by any rookie in Wild history. … Wednesday was the first head-to-head NHL game between Nick and Marcus Foligno where each scored a goal … Blackhawks forward Tyler Johnson was minus-2 in 16:29 of ice time in his first game since Dec. 31 because of a right foot injury.