Wild's best leads club to much-needed win over rival Blackhawks

ST. PAUL -- Desperately needing a win after back-to-back losses to open the 2018-19 regular season, the Wild got exactly what it wanted on Thursday: a galvanizing, emotional -- and somewhat unexpected, considering the circumstances -- victory against a division rival.
Minnesota looked buried twice in the game.
In the first period, Chicago raced to a two-goal advantage, presenting the Wild with a deficit that matched its total offensive putout through two games.

After rallying to tie, Chicago's Alex DeBrincat scored a power-play marker 2:29 into the third period for a 3-2 lead. The Wild pushed for the tying goal for the rest of the period, but when Mikael Granlund committed a holding penalty with 1:17 left in regulation, it seemed as though the home crowd would go home disappointed.
Nobody could have predicted that Granlund's penalty, which put the Wild a man down for the rest of the third period, would end up saving the day.
"They could have put us away right there and it was a really good play by him to at least give us a chance," said Wild forward Zach Parise. "And we ended up capitalizing on it."
Less than a minute later, with Devan Dubnyk on the bench for a second time, it was Parise, Eric Staal and Ryan Suter leading the charge and tying the score, with the veteran blueliner finishing from the most unpredictable of spots: right on top of the blue paint.

It's not often Suter ventures that far into the offensive zone, but on this night, the Wild was certainly happy he did. Asked how many goals he's scored from that spot on the ice, Suter's answer was quick.
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"None. Well, a few maybe," Suter said. "I think I scored when I was playing against Minnesota one time when I was down in front there.
"Just desperation, just trying to get to the net and help out."
The Wild killed the rest of the penalty in regulation and survived the first few shifts of overtime before inserting the dagger, thanks again to the Wild's biggest names.

First, it was Dubnyk, making a ridiculous right pad save on Patrick Kane from about six feet away.
Then it was Parise, springing Zucker for a breakaway chance that he didn't miss on.
"I knew when I saw him that if I could get it over to him, he was going to be in," Parise said. "I threw him a little bit of a grenade into his skates, it was a good pickup, but when I saw him going up the far side, and if I could get it over to him, he was going to be in."
Sixty seconds after capping a 2-on-1 rush with a shot that landed in Cam Ward's glove, Zucker gained a step on a Chicago defenseman, moved the puck to his back hand and slipped it five hole for the win.

One patented Zucker fist pump later, the Wild had its two points in the standings.
"I wasn't happy with how I played the first two games. I thought I had some good spurts. It just wasn't good enough," Zucker said. "I know the way I can play and tonight was much more like it. I think everybody would've said the same thing about the first two games. We all wanted to step up and play well."
Zucker finished with two goals an assist, was a plus-4 and had 10 shots on goal, while while Staal and Suter each had one goal and two assists. Parise had two assists and Dubnyk stopped 27 saves.

"We all knew we haven't been great the first two games," Staal said. "So it was the response we needed to have from us and from guys that are counted on here so we wanted to make sure we were ready to play and tonight was a night where we had to stick with it obviously right to the end."
Minnesota outshot Chicago 46-30 in the game, tied for the fourth-most shots on goal in a game in franchise history and tied for second-most in a home game.
And other than a sleepy first 10 minutes of the game, the Wild earned its two points. Still, no win in the NHL is ever easy. Minnesota proved that on Thursday.
"If this is how the year is going to be, I won't have any hair at the end of it," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "[But] it was a determination that they just didn't want to lose.
"It's a win, and an important win for us. You meet another undefeated team basically on Saturday, and then you're going into Nashville. So it was an important game for us."