Takeaways: Wild rally vs. the Blackhawks to extend win streak to six games

The Wild haven’t had to rally much, but they weren’t rusty when they finally needed their resilience.

They trailed for the first time in nine games before polishing off a 4-3 comeback in overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night at United Center to extend their season-high winning streak to six games.

“Every night you might not be at your best,” coach John Hynes told reporters in Chicago. “But the mindset of the group tonight is something that I think we can draw on moving forward, that you got to keep fighting and battling regardless of what happens and you got to try to make a game of it. We did.”

Kirill Kaprizov broke a 3-3 tie only 1 minute, 38 seconds into overtime after tying goals from Matt Boldy and Nico Sturm in the third period.

Brock Faber also scored, his second goal in as many games.

On just his second shot of the night, after the first arrived seconds earlier, Kaprizov threw the puck by Chicago goalie Spencer Knight on a 4-on-3, all-forward power play for the Wild.

Joel Eriksson Ek checked Blackhawks star Connor Bedard off the puck, and Chicago’s Ilya Mikheyev retaliated by running into Eriksson Ek and knocking him to the ice — this after Eriksson Ek was slashed and hooked on separate shifts in the third period without the Blackhawks getting penalized; Mikheyev was whistled for interference.

The 505:41 the Wild played without falling behind was the longest run in the NHL since the St. Louis Blues went 512:37 during the 2018-19 season.

Gustavsson’s valiant effort ended with 34 stops, while Knight made 20 saves.

The Wild improved to 10-1-1 in November and are on a nine-game point streak (8-0-1).

“It wasn’t our best early in the game,” Hynes said, “but I just liked the fact that we stayed with different things, whether it was referees, whether it was penalty kills, the power plays, the different dynamics of the game.

“I felt just staying with it, the battle, the compete and finding a way to get the job done, I’m most proud of the guys for that.”

Gustavsson faced one more shot in the first period than he did in his 19-stop victory at Pittsburgh on Friday. He got in front of tips, fended off looks from deeper in the zone and even got a piece of a shot from Bedard out of the penalty box with his shoulder.

“We weren’t sharp, but he was really sharp early,” Hynes said. “He gave us the opportunity to continue to push and get ourselves playing the way that we need to play.”

BOXSCORE: Wild 4, Chicago 3 (OT)

NHL standings

Chicago finally got a puck by Gustavsson in the second when a turnover to the middle by Yakov Trenin was pounced on by Dickinson, who wired in a one-timer at 5:41 to sink the Wild into their first 1-0 deficit in 13 games. They previously scored first in a franchise-record 12 straight.

The last time the Wild were down by two goals was their 4-1 loss to the Penguins on Oct. 30, the line in the sand of their season.

The Blackhawks capitalized again in the second when Tyler Bertuzzi buried a rebound, but the goal was overturned after the Wild successfully challenged for off-side.

Not going up 3-0 stung Chicago.

With 14 seconds to go in the period, Faber’s shot sailed off the post and in for his sixth goal of the season and a late lift that carried over to the third: Just 2:17 into the period, Sturm deflected in a Jonas Brodin shot for his first goal in his second game back from a back injury that delayed his start to the season.

Artyom Levshunov responded for the Blackhawks by netting his first NHL goal at 5:31, a backhander after he accepted a Bedard pass and cut to the front of the net.

Boldy flung the puck into a vacant Chicago net at 10:35 with Knight sprawled out after making an earlier save on Boldy before Brodin scooped up the rebound and set up the winger for his 14th goal. Since his two-goal game Nov. 6 at Carolina, Boldy ranks second in the NHL in goals with nine.

To get to overtime, the Wild had to survive a late Blackhawks power play, and the penalty kill was clutch to finish 4-for-4.

The Wild power play finished 1-for-5 after Kaprizov’s 12th career OT goal continued their dominance vs. Chicago. They’re 16-0-1 over the last 17 matchups.

Kaprizov, who tied Boldy for the team lead in goals, is up to 199 in his Wild career to match Zach Parise for the third-most goals in franchise history.

He also tied Parise in all-time power play goals (69).

This was the first time this season the Wild were victorious after trailing by two goals and in the third period.

Times have changed.

The Wild used to lose when they deserved to win. Now they’re succeeding even when they’re struggling.

“It’s obviously a sign that things are going well when you win games that maybe you were not supposed to from the way the game worked,” Sturm said.

This was the most lopsided start the Wild have had during their November surge.

“Why not?” said Gustavsson, who owns a .938 save percentage and 1.61 goals-against average during his three-game winning streak. “It’s so many games now. We play almost every other day, and it’s hard on the body to play that much. So, it’s good for the goalies to get their rest, too.”

But the perseverance the Wild showed after the Blackhawks finally broke through was commendable, especially since they haven’t been in many jams lately.

Even after they had a puck sit on the goal line and a breakaway for Marcus Johansson stopped, the Wild were committed to chipping away, and they eventually overcame the Blackhawks despite a short bench.

Marcus Foligno left in the second period after getting tied up with former Gopher Oliver Moore and didn’t return. Hynes said postgame that he wasn’t sure about Foligno’s status.

“Hopefully it’s not too serious,” he added.