Wild slips past Chicago in shootout

CHICAGO – Sunday morning, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said it seems the Wild plays with a chip on its shoulder every time the two teams meet. That's what comes with three consecutive years of having one's season ended by the same team.

Well, hours after coach John Torchetti exclaimed "the Blackhawks are our bar," the Wild once again went toe-to-toe with the Blackhawks and once again came away with the regular-season victory — its fourth in a row this season and sixth in a row overall — during a 3-2 shootout win.

Despite seeing its 2-0 lead evaporate in less than five minutes in the second period, the Wild pushed hard in the third, couldn't get the go-ahead goal but ended up getting a Charlie Coyle shootout winner for back-to-back shootout wins on back-to-back days.

"Our history the last couple years against them, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth," Coyle said. "It's not hard to get up for these games. You always want to take down the best."

Devan Dubnyk, who made 29 saves through overtime, went 3-for-3 against the talented Toews; the NHL's leading scorer, Patrick Kane; and the NHL's top-scoring rookie, Artemi Panarin.

He was mostly relieved to escape Kane's wrath.

"It's tough when he comes down," Dubnyk said. "He makes all his moves and you don't want to become his next poster."

The Wild could have won outright. With Corey Crawford injured, backup goalie Scott Darling made 32 saves, including 16 in the third period as the Wild impressively pushed hard despite the dejection of seeing its second-period lead disappear on goals by Andrew Shaw and Richard Panik.

"Darling made three or four pretty unreal stops," Dubnyk said.

The Wild did waste an overtime 4-on-3 power play, one that could be costly because the Wild remains three regulation/overtime wins behind the Avalanche. That's the first tiebreaker if the two teams end the season with the same amount of points. A pressing Zach Parise, who has two goals in his past 24 games and had 12 shot attempts, missed a wide-open net.

But Wild players all praised Dubnyk in the locker room postgame. He made a couple of dandy saves in the third period, including one that didn't count as a shot — a poke check to ruin a Panik breakaway late.

"Huge," Erik Haula said about Dubnyk.

Sidekick Nino Niederreiter also continued his terrific play of late. He scored his 18th goal and fourth in the past five games and had two points, extending his point streak to a career-best five games.

But then it's as if the Wild stopped playing.

After Mikko Koivu didn't take the body in the neutral zone, the Blackhawks flew into the zone just onside and Shaw toe-dragged to his left, left Ryan Suter in his wake and squeezed an unscreened shot through Dubnyk's arm.

Not long after, the Blackhawks tied the score on a wraparound.

But the Wild pushed hard in the third and also got some physicality from Matt Dumba, who caught Kane for not only a rare hit but one in which Kane was puck-focused with his head down in the neutral zone.