ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Chicago Blackhawks hung in with the Minnesota Wild in a 4-3 loss Monday, but over the Christmas break they’ll likely be kicking themselves over a goal and near-misses they gifted the Wild.
In the first period, Kirill Kaprizov took advantage of some confusion over where the puck landed and swooped in for a goal before the Hawks could react.
In the third, Teuvo Teräväinen missed an open net, and later, Alex Vlasic’s point shot trickled under Filip Gustavsson but didn’t have quite enough steam to cross the line before Wild defenders could sweep it out.
Charity or not, the Hawks lost another close one, similar to Saturday’s 6-4 loss in Calgary, Alberta, similar to any number of games you could point to this season.
“I thought this was a little bit of the same story, right? A little bit late again,” Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said.
Added center Jason Dickinson: “We just let it slip away a little bit.”
The game started with a win of sorts for Sorensen.
The Wild appeared to take a 1-0 lead when Brock Faber found the back of the net after a Yakov Trenin rebound, but Sorensen challenged for goaltender interference.
The officials overturned the goal based on Ben Jones running into Arvid Söderblom, giving Sorensen his first successful challenge after losing his first — for interference too — against the New York Islanders on Dec. 15.
Later in the first, Connor Bedard pushed the puck between Gustavsson’s legs, set up by Taylor Hall batting Mats Zuccarello’s breakout pass back to Bedard.
It was the 22nd time the Hawks scored first, which leads the league.
Five minutes later, the Wild answered — and this time Sorensen couldn’t do anything about it.
Marco Rossi’s shot bounced off the post and traveled behind Söderblom, but not in the net. The Hawks goalie sat motionless as Kaprizov scooped in the rebound to make it 1-1.
“I think he lost track of it,” Sorensen said.
As tough as it to contain Kaprizov — the goal was his 23rd of the season — it felt like a “gimme,” but Dickinson bristled at that description.
“You call it a ‘gimme’ or whatever, but that’s kind of what they do,” he said. “As much as they make that extra play cross-seam, they also put pucks to the net and crash. It’s part of their MO. That’s why they’re so good: The puck goes to the net, they crash, they get it, they do it again. …
“If the puck goes toward the net, one of us needs to slash through so that there’s support to pick up the puck and create the next scoring chance. I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to call it a ‘gimme’ as much as it’s a smart play that they understand one another.”
The Hawks got a leg up again in the second period.
Nick Foligno worked a give-and-go with Frank Nazar, with Nazar taking a shot and Foligno cleaning up the rebound to regain the lead at 2-1. It was rookie forward Nazar’s first career assist and first point this season.
Nazar said after the game that “of course” he was happy about notching another milestone, “but obviously would’ve felt better with a win.”
Ryan Donato also assisted on Foligno’s goal, his fourth point in the last five games.
However, Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon responded 49 seconds later with a far-side backhander to knot it 2-2.
“We were fine up to 2-2 — we got scored on again after we scored, which is not ideal,” Sorensen said. “And then 2-2, we hung in there. Pretty good road game at that point.”
The Wild played a great game of keep-away, as evidenced by how they kept zipping around the zone before Faber one-timed a goal to give the Wild their first lead at 3-2.
“Just letting (the Wild) loose for a shift or two, and letting them kind of be able to buzz around in the D-zone is something you just can’t do against those guys,” Nazar said. “And seeing it firsthand and not just on TV was pretty crazy.”
Added Sorensen: “It’s a 2-2 game, we’ve got to be willing to go and play offensively. … I thought we sat back a little bit too much there.”
The Wild’s neutral-zone forecheck pretty much neutralized the Hawks offense in the third.
Once the Wild got the lead, Dickinson said, “They’re able to sit back in a 1-1-3 and control the pace of the play through the neutral zone and not really let us get in the zone, get any scoring chances.
“It’s not a position you want to be in.”
Sorensen didn’t let the Hawks off the hook, though. They played too conservatively in that situation.
“When they got into that 1-1-3, we got caught standing still a little bit,” he said. “Got to have a little bit more motion there.”
The Wild’s Marcus Foligno scored an empty-netter for insurance, though Dickinson added a Hawks desperation goal with 33 seconds left.
Sorensen said that after the Christmas break — their next game is Friday at the Buffalo Sabres — the Hawks have some old habits to break, like shrinking in tight games, not playing aggressively enough.
“Talk about it. Work on it. Show it,” he replied when asked how he’ll break the team of those habits. “It’s going to be a process, for sure. It’s baby steps.
“And then, unfortunately, the last two games were not what we wanted, so we’ve just got to keep getting back to work here.”
