Marcus Johansson scored two of the Minnesota Wild’s three goals over the final six minutes to lift them to a 4-2 win against the host Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night.
Johansson added an assist, Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist and Filip Gustavsson made 39 saves for the short-handed Wild (46-24-10, 102 points), who pulled two points behind the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars for the top two spots in Central Division with two games left.
Joey Anderson and Anders Bjork scored and Alex Stalock made 18 saves for the Blackhawks (25-49-6, 56 points), who have lost 11 of 12.
Johansson scored short-handed with six minutes left to tie it 2-2, then got loose again and scored 2:47 later for a 3-2 lead.
Gustav Nyquist scored into an empty net with 1:01 left for the final margin.
Boldy made it 1-0 at 12:32 of the first period when he collected his own rebound and scored his 31st of the season, including 15 in the past 18 games.
Anderson tied it 1-1 at 18:11 of the first period when he pushed a loose puck between the pads of Gustavsson.
The Blackhawks moved ahead 2-1 at 2:23 of the second period.
Minnesota turned the puck over in the neutral zone, leading to a partial breakaway by Buddy Robinson. His shot from the right circle was saved, but Bjork was in position for the rebound and scored his first of the season.
Chicago nearly took a 3-1 lead into the third period, but Boris Katchouk’s wrist shot went off the inside of the left post with 1:06 left in the second.
Gustavsson turned away Jason Dickinson on a short-handed breakaway early in the third. Jonathan Toews also appeared to give Chicago a 3-1 lead during a delayed penalty at 12:16, but the goal was waved off because Minnesota had gained possession just prior to the goal to begin the power play.
The Wild played without their top three point-scorers — Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek — and their highest-scoring defenseman, Jared Spurgeon.
Kaprizov, who leads Minnesota with 39 goals and 74 points, sat out one game after returning from a 13-game absence (lower-body injury).
–Field Level Media
