Penalties drain Wild, fuel Blackhawks in 4-1 loss

The performance of the penalty kill wasn't a problem in either of the Wild's last two losses.

It's the amount of times the unit has been ushered into duty, however, that's been a concern, with a parade to the box headlining the 4-1 setback to the Blackhawks Sunday at United Center.

"You can't take six penalties and win," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's an impossibility. We're trying to use guys, the third and fourth line basically, to kill penalties to save our other guys. But sometimes it's still hard when you're killing all those penalties, and you're trying to get into the rhythm of a game."

For the second straight game, the Wild put the opposition on the power play six times. And although the Blackhawks were as unsuccessful as the Oilers were in a 3-2 win over the Wild Saturday at Xcel Energy Center, both teams capitalized on other upsides – chiefly momentum and zone time.

The latter wasn't wasted by the Blackhawks, as 14 of their 46 shots (roughly 30 percent) came with the man advantage.

Spotless play by the penalty killers is the silver lining, but putting the unit on the ice this much is risky – especially with the NHL's No.1 power play in the Lightning at the conclusion of this road trip.

"We can't be doing that to ourselves, kind of shooting ourselves in the foot," defenseman Matt Dumba said. "It takes away a lot of rhythm out of the game, so that sucks. We know we have to be more disciplined."

Spurgeon played 23 minutes, 20 seconds, finished a minus-1 and blocked three shots.

"It was his first game," Boudreau said. "You can see the excitement; his first couple shifts were great. He was probably a little bit rusty, but overall Jared Spurgeon's a great player."

With this his first game since the end of November, the pace of play was quick for Spurgeon so he tried to simplify his approach and avoid fancy plays. He was the one who made the ill-timed line change that helped spring Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane for a breakaway on the game-winning goal, but getting Spurgeon back is still a major lift for the blue line.

"It felt good to be back out there," Spurgeon said. "Obviously you'd like to make a difference and [have] the team come out with a win. But I was happy to be back."

All three of those goals have been the Wild's lone production in those contests and while more help is certainly needed, having Dumba on a roll is encouraging.

Being on the road, however, could help correct that, as the Wild rebounded from a loss at the outset of its California road trip earlier this month to win the remaining games.