Pre-holiday frustrations continue for Minnesota Thursday in Chicago

CHICAGO -- Forgive the Wild for being short. At this point, players and coach Bruce Boudreau are simply running out of things to say.
Minnesota's offensive woes continued on Thursday in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center that wasn't nearly as lopsided as the score would indicate.
Not by a long shot.

The Wild piled up a season-high 48 shots on goal, outshot the Blackhawks by a 48-20 margin, it hit two posts ... but until the final minute of the game, the Wild was able to get just one puck past Chicago rookie netminder Collin Delia.

"We have a lot of grade-A chances and we're not putting them in and we're not getting the save when we need to get the save," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "It's not a good combination."
Coming off a four-day layoff, the Wild didn't look the least bit rusty coming out of the gates. Minnesota had the first five shots on goal and was pressuring Delia -- making just his fourth NHL start -- from the get go.
But 4:02 into the contest, on its very first shot, the Blackhawks grabbed the lead on a goal by Patrick Kane. For the 25th time in 36 games this season, the Wild was in chase mode.
"Our margin for error isn't very high right now. We're not scoring enough to make some of the mistakes we're making," said Wild forward Eric Staal. "It just seems like we carry some momentum, then when we get a break the other way, it's hitting the back of the net right now. Definitely frustrating but they've got some opportunistic guys and some good players that make plays and that was the difference."
To the Wild's credit, it stayed the course and was able to even things up on Zach Parise's 16th goal with five minutes left in the period.

Despite a 15-4 advantage in shots on goal, Minnesota and Chicago went into the first intermission tied at 1-1.
Not ideal, but certainly not cataclysmic.
"You're hoping for more than a 1-1 game with some of the zone time and looks that we had," Staal said. "I think we could have done a better job of getting inside and on some of those loose pucks, but again, we're getting some of those chances, we're just not finishing right now, it's not going in."
Things went off the rails early in the second, however.
Brandon Saad scored just 23 seconds into the period and Kane added his second of the night 3 1/2 minutes later, and all of the sudden, the Wild was staring at a two-goal deficit.
"I was pretty upset. We gave them nothing in the first period and it shouldn't have been tied and it was," Boudreau said. "We knew they were going to come out better in the second period. We have to meet that push and we would've been fine."
For a team that scored just three goals in its previous four games before the holiday break, it proved to be too tough a mountain to climb.

"I thought we played a good first period. And they get one right away in the second and then we're chasing the game after that," Parise said. "Same story that it's been for the last, I don't know how many games -- four, five, six games, before the break -- same story.
"Outside of us getting that one 6-on-5, you're just not going to win many games, you're not going to win games scoring one goal, two goals, you're not going to win games."
Minnesota would continue its assault on the Chicago net, outshooting the Blackhawks 16-11 in the second period and 17-5 in the third, but Saad's second goal of the game -- another power-play goal -- made it 4-1 with seven minutes and change remaining.
Staal scored his 13th with 50 seconds left and an extra attacker on the ice before Kane capped his hat trick with a shot into an open cage with 27 seconds remaining.
"This last month hasn't gone the way that we wanted," said Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. "We're as] disappointed as anybody but we have to figure it out. No one is going to come and do it for us. We have to find a way to manufacture a win any way we can and from there just try to build it."
It won't get any easier for Minnesota, which plays five of its next six games away from home, beginning Saturday afternoon, when it plays the Winnipeg Jets. It's the Wild's first game at Bell MTS Place since a five-game Stanley Cup Playoff exit last spring.
"We gotta stick with it and stick together. As difficult as it's been here for the last little bit, it's no use pointing fingers at each other," Staal said. "We've gotta come together and focus on one game, and that's Winnipeg and trying to get some points out of their building. It's a tough place to play, but you gotta respond and rebound and do the job next game."
**Related:**
[Postgame Hat Trick: Blackhawks 5, Wild 2