CHICAGO — Matt Boldy scored two goals, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a shootout at the United Center on Sunday.
Mason Shaw scored his first NHL goal and had an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves for the Wild (4-4-1), who finished their five-game road trip 3-1-1.
“We did just enough to give ourselves a chance, enough good things, and we didn’t do as many bad things in order to let that game slip away,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “Yeah, we were happy with the way we played in the third period and held our composure. That was our best period.”
Video: MIN@CHI: Boldy buries shot into yawning cage
Alex Stalock made 32 saves for the Blackhawks (4-3-2), who have lost three straight (0-1-2).
“Yeah, that’s wild,” the Chicago forward Andreas Athanasiou said. “Feel good once you get the lead there (in the third) and just unfortunate bounces, you know, give it right back to them. So it’s something we have to clean up on. We stuck with it for a full 60 (minutes) and came back. Obviously, we had spurts where we had to dial it in a little bit, but there’s a lot of good things to take out of it, and get a good day off tomorrow, come back the day after, and get ready to play.”
Jake McCabe scored his first of the season to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 6:39 of the first period. Sam Lafferty skated behind the net and passed to McCabe, who beat Fleury through traffic from the right point.
Boldy tied it 1-1 at 7:01, scoring five-hole on Stalock after the Blackhawks couldn’t clear the puck at the left point.
Shaw put the Wild ahead 2-1 at 10:52. Sam Steele got Stalock to overcommit down the left wing and passed back out in front to Shaw, who scored into an open net.
“I think I’ll put that one up there for being the most fulfilling of my career to this point,” said Shaw, who was playing in his fourth game this season and seventh in the NHL. “This is cliche, but more importantly, it’s nice to enjoy this win. This is an extremely special group here. To cap off a great road trip, I’m glad I could be a part of it.”
Said Boldy: “It’s awesome. ‘Shawsie’ is the best. Everyone loves him. To see him get one finally after how well he’s been playing is awesome.”
Video: MIN@CHI: Shaw grabs the lead on a nifty play
Jonathan Toews tied it 2-2 at 10:27 of the second period. After Philip Kurashev‘s initial shot hit off the end boards, the forward got the rebound and shot the puck back toward the crease, where Toews poked it five-hole on Fleury.
Fleury played 45 games with the Blackhawks last season before being traded to the Wild on March 21.
“It’s still weird, it’s still special,” Fleury said. “I wasn’t here much, but I wish I would have done better and won more games with them. I made good friends on their team, their staff. The fans were very welcoming, the neighborhood. I’m glad I got to to live this experience, to play for the Chicago Blackhawks, to live in Chicago a little bit. It was a great life experience.”
Athanasiou gave Chicago a 3-2 lead at 10:02 of the third period, dangling Matt Dumba with an inside-outside move before shooting glove side with a backhand.
Video: MIN@CHI: Athanasiou makes multiple moves and scores
However, Boldy scored 17 seconds later to tie it 3-3, shooting into an open net from the bottom of the right face-off circle after receiving a backdoor pass from Joel Eriksson Ek.
“That happened twice tonight and a few times this year,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “I think it’s just very similar to the last three games, you know, like learning to protect, salvage a point and get to overtime in the Edmonton game (a 6-5 regulation loss on Thursday) and moving to last night and losing in overtime (4-3 at the Buffalo Sabres) is disappointing and a shootout tonight. We have to make sure there’s lessons learned early in the season that don’t carry on through the season.”
NOTES: Wild forward Ryan Hartman The fighting Blackhawks defenseman left the game at 5:36 of the second period with an apparent shoulder injury. Jarred Tinordi. There was no update postgame. … Evason’s win was his 100thth win in the NHL. He is 100-46-13, the fifth-fewest games needed to reach the milestone in League history. The only others to reach it in fewer games are Tom Johnson (138), Mike Keenan (152), Todd McLellan (158) and Terry Crisp (158). … Fleury’s win was his 62nd in a shootout, passing Henrik Lundqvist for the most in NHL history … Wild forward Marcus Foligno did not play because of an upper-body injury.
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