Wild 5, Blackhawks 4 – Recap

Scoring

1^st Period

0:18 MIN Zucker. Assists: Suter, Koivu

4:06 CHI Toews (SH). Unassisted

10:33 CHI Seabrook (PP). Assists: Panarin, Kane

14:52 MIN Carter. Assists: Haula, Porter

19:49 MIN Coyle. Assists: Scandella, Koivu

2^nd Period

3:01 MIN Spurgeon (PP). Assists: Vanek, Scandella

10:47 CHI Toews. Assist: Garbutt

13:42 CHI Anisimov. Assists: Gustafsson, Daley

3^rd Period

0:32 MIN Neiderreiter. Assists: Zucker, Koivu

Penalties

1^st Period

2:57 CHI Svedberg: 2 min. – Interference against Koivu

9:49 MIN Fontaine: 2 min. – Tripping against Kero

2^nd Period

1:17 CHI Desjardins: 2 min. – Tripping against Fontaine

3^rd Period

None

 

Darling was bad. This wasn’t entirely his fault – the defense as a whole wasn’t very good. The Hawks gave up goals in the first minutes of two periods and the last minute of one and it ended up killing them. Other than that, they outplayed the Wild. Erik Gustafsson made his debut with the Hawks tonight and I liked what I saw from him. The offense finally got it together, which makes it all the more unfortunate that the defense and Darling laid eggs. Toews made a couple great plays that resulted in him finding the back of the net. Garbutt looked fine in the lottery spot with Hartman in for Tikhonov tonight. At this point, I would say the 1LW spot should go to either Garbutt or Turbo. Kero’s been good in his first two games. I’m confident in him, Shaw, and whoever’s not at 1LW. Hossa left the game in the second period and didn’t return, so that’s worth keeping an eye on.

Yes, the Hawks have lost back-to-back games, but I’m not worried right now and you shouldn’t be either:

1. They got the offense going.
2. Keith is still out.
3. This was the back end of a back-to-back on the road.
4. Darling hadn’t played in two weeks.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Mikko Koivu, C, MIN (3 A)

★★ Jason Zucker, LW, MIN (1 G, 1 A)

★ Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (2 G)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com