A potentially ho-hum road trip ended in gutsy fashion after the shorthanded Wild rallied for a 4-3 shootout win over the Blackhawks at United Center and wrap the five-game trek with seven out of a possible 10 points.
After a scoreless overtime, Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau converted in the shootout while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Fleury's 62 shootout wins are the most in NHL history, and this secured coach Dean Evason's 100th career victory.
In the third period, Andreas Athanasiou and the Wild's Matt Boldy scored 17 seconds apart.
Boldy had another response goal in the first period, capitalizing 22 seconds after Jake McCabe opened the scoring at 6:39.
This was Boldy's second two-goal game of the season.
Before the first ended, Mason Shaw delivered the Wild a 2-1 lead with his first NHL goal at 10:52. He also earned an assist on Boldy's second goal for his first two career points.
At 10:27 of the second, the Blackhawks finally answered back when Toews poked in a loose puck in the crease.
By then, the Wild were playing shorthanded.
Ryan Hartman left with an upper-body injury after he and the Blackhawks' Jarred Tinordi attempted to fight, a brief tussle that saw Hartman grab at his right side after he tumbled to the ice.
Fleury made 23 stops, while former Wild netminder Alex Stalock had 32 for Chicago.
The Wild blanked on the game's only two power plays.
-------
