ST PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Hartman scored with 3:13 left in the game, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Saturday to finish off a four-game season sweep of its Central Division rival.
Frederick Gaudreau and Jordan Greenway also scored for Minnesota. Cam Talbot made 21 saves to win his fifth straight, improving to 9-4-0 in his last 13 starts.
Seth Jones scored his first goal in 36 games for the Blackhawks, and Kevin Lankinen made 31 saves,
On the game-winner, Kirill Kaprizov outmuscled a Chicago defenseman for the puck in the right corner and fed Mats Zuccarello near the slot. His touch pass found Hartman alone at the left side for a redirect that Lankinen had no chance on. Greenway scored into an empty net.
Improving to 4-1-1 in its last six, Minnesota began the day tied with Nashville for third place in the Central Division, three points back of second-place St. Louis.
Gaudreau converted a feed from Fiala for a 1-0 lead late in the opening frame. With the helper, Fiala established a career-high with 55 points.
Nursing a one-goal lead, Talbot stopped Boris Katchouk on a breakaway with 11:32 left. His other biggest saves came in the second period: robbing Kirby Dach near the right post on a feed from Patrick Kane and a sprawled arm save on Dominik Kubalik off a Dach feed.
Jones tied the game for Chicago midway through the third period with a wrist shot from the left dot that beat Talbot high on the glove side.
Lankinen started in goal instead of Marc-Andre Fleury, who could be moved to a contender by Monday’s trade deadline. Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson said Friday the team is in rebuilding mode — the same day Chicago traded Brandon Hagel, the team’s second-leading goal scorer with 21.
Watch more of Minnesota sports:
Watch the latest sports videos - from high school hockey to the Minnesota Vikings and everything in between - in our YouTube playlist:
