Chicago Blackhawks

Alex DeBrincat Scores Twice, but Blackhawks Lose to Wild

The Chicago Blackhawks had an opportunity to win in regulation for the first time this season, but a Ryan Suter goal with 23 seconds left tied things up, and Jason Zucker scored to give the Minnesota Wild a 4-3 overtime victory.

Alex DeBrincat scored twice in the game, including the Blackhawks’ first power play goal of the season, and Dominik Kahun scored his first career NHL goal in the losing effort.

Cam Ward had his best game of the season, stopping 42 shots, but it wasn’t enough as the Blackhawks lost in overtime for the second straight game.

Zucker scored a pair of goals and registered an assist for the Wild, and Suter added two assists to his first goal of the campaign as the Wild picked up the second point in a Central Division showdown with the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks dominated the first 20 minutes of play, picking up a 2-0 lead after the first period. DeBrincat rifled home his third goal of the season, going top shelf off a great feed from Jonathan Toews, and Kahun potted his first career tally less than three minutes later.

In the second period, the Blackhawks maintained their edge through the first 13 minutes, but Eric Staal registered his first goal of the season to get the Wild on the board. Then, with just seconds left in the period, Zucker got to the front of the net after the Blackhawks failed to clear the puck from the zone and shoved a shot past Ward to knot things up at 2-2.

Early in the third period, the Blackhawks got a power play, and DeBrincat scored his second of the game to give them the lead. Patrick Kane helped out on the play, feeding a pass to the middle of the ice, and DeBrincat one-timed a slapshot past Devan Dubnyk to give the Blackhawks the lead.

That lead held until late in the third period, when the Blackhawks gave up a short-handed goal to knot things up. Poor defensive positioning played a role on the goal, as the Blackhawks overloaded to one side of the ice, and after an Eric Staal shot bounced off of Ward, Suter was there to clean up the rebound to tie the game and send the Blackhawks to overtime for the fourth straight game.

The Blackhawks failed to score on their early power play in the extra stanza, and ultimately Zucker got a breakaway and beat Ward five-hole to give Minnesota the victory.

The Blackhawks will head home to take on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at the United Center. 

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