Zuccarello, Wild recover for OT win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Mats Zuccarello scored at 3:09 of overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 4-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.

Zuccarello won it with a wrist shot from the top of slot off Marcus Johansson’s pass from the goal line.

“It’s always nice to get a win,” Zuccarello said. "They haven’t always been easy to come by even though we’ve played good enough hockey to get them. Today I think we played a really good first period, solid second period. In the third, I think we stopped making plays and played a little bit too easy. It’s an important two points and (to) get back in the winning column for us, and hopefully get some momentum and some confidence from this.”

Frank Nazar had tied it 3-3 for the Blackhawks at 18:20 of the third period, taking a backhand pass from Connor Bedard on the rush and putting the puck past Filip Gustavsson to the glove side from in close.

Johansson had a goal and two assists, and Brock Faber had three assists for Minnesota (39-18-12), which had lost three in a row (0-2-1). Gustavsson made 21 saves on 24 shots. He left the game with 7:00 remaining in the third and was replaced by Jesper Wallstedt, who made two saves in 3:27 before Gustavsson returned from what he said was an equipment problem.

“A problem with the gear, and I knew it was going to take longer than the TV timeout,” Gustavsson said. “So I just rushed and got it fixed and waited to get back out there.”

Nazar and Louis Crevier each had a goal and an assist, Bedard had two assists, and Spencer Knight made 33 saves for Chicago (25-30-12).

“I liked our response,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “I like the way we played the second half of the game. Obviously didn’t like the first. Mainly the first and the first part of the second, maybe a little bit. We just lost too many puck battles, so that makes you slow and we just got spinning a bit.”

Ryan Hartman gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 6:17 of the first period. Faber skated the puck in from the right point and passed behind the net to Kirill Kaprizov, who made a quick pass in front to Hartman before the forward flicked the puck past Knight.

Johansson made it 2-0 at 7:58. After Jonas Brodin’s shot from the point was stopped by Knight, the puck deflected off Wild forward Michael McCarron over to Johansson, who scored from the bottom of the right face-off circle.

“It’s been a little while,” said Johansson, who hadn’t scored a goal since Jan. 15 and ended a 15-game drought. “I’ve had plenty of chances. I think people know I’m not a shoot-first guy always, but they come in waves sometimes. It’s always frustrating when they don’t go in, but yeah, it was nice to get kind of a lucky one, a fluke one, but those count, too.”

Crevier cut it to 2-1 at 10:47, scoring with a slap shot from above the right circle to the far side.

“From halfway through the game, I think we played really solid,” Crevier said. “I think it's just finding consistency in playing like that or closer to that than we did in the first half.

"It's weird how the game changes sometimes. I think once we got our rhythm, we gained confidence. Then we just went all in and kept going. Once again, it's all about trying to do that more often."

Vladimir Tarasenko restored the Wild’s two-goal lead by making it 3-1 on the power play at 18:30. He scored on a wrist shot from the left circle off a pass by Johansson, giving him three goals in the past two games.

Ryan Greene brought Chicago to within 3-2 at 14:35 of the second period. He put the puck in from in front of the net after Bedard poked at it during a scramble.

The Blackhawks honored former captain Nick Foligno with a video tribute during the first period. It was the forward’s first game against Chicago since he was traded to Minnesota for future considerations on March 6.

“I thought it was great,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Obviously Nick had a big impact on a lot of the younger guys that they have and was the team captain. I think it’s always nice when a former player, not only a former player but a captain, comes back to their old team and gets a reception like that. So I think it was well done by the Blackhawks, the fans and really good for Nick.”

NOTES: Minnesota is 18-0-1 against Chicago dating to Feb. 4, 2020. The 19-game point streak is the longest active streak against a single opponent. … Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek missed the game because of a lower-body injury. Hynes said he is day to day … Zuccarello scored his fifth overtime goal with Minnesota and tied Matt Boldy, Brent Burns and Mikko Koivu for the fourth most in franchise history. They trail Kaprizov (14), Mathew Dumba (six) and Jared Spurgeon (six). … Blackhawks defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. Blashill said the move was made mainly to get defenseman Ethan Del Mastro playing time. Del Mastro played 11:51 and was minus-1 with a shot one goal and two blocked shots. … The teams will face each other at Minnesota on Thursday to finish the home-and-home set.