Advertisement

Wild jump on Chicago early, stay unbeaten under new coach John Hynes

john shipley, pioneer press
·2 min read

The Wild remained perfect under new head coach John Hynes with a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center.

Marco Rossi scored two goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots to earn his 548th NHL victory and move to three wins from tying Patrick Roy for third all time.

Mats Zuccarello added a goal and two assists, and Matt Boldy scored one of two power-play goals for Minnesota, which is 3-0 since Hynes succeeded Dean Evason before a 3-1 victory over St. Louis last Tuesday at the X.

Rossi scored twice in the first period, first when he deflected a wrist shot by Faber past Petr Mazrek 2 minutes, 11 seconds into the game. He gave the Wild a 2-0 lead with his power-play goal at 12:08, a one-timer from the slot on a pass from Freddy Gaudreau.

Brock Faber had assists on both goals, including his first as part of the Wild’s second power-play unit.

Mats Zuccarello put the Wild up 3-0 late in the first period, whacking in a one-timer from the right circle from a pass by Kirill Kaprizov at 17:07. He earned the first assist on the team’s fourth goal when Boldy deflected his shot past Mrazek at 11:36 of the second period to make it 4-0.

Zuccarello now has 20 assists and six goals in 22 games and leads the Wild with 26 points.

Fleury finished just shy of his 74th career shutout. Chicago finally got a puck past him when a shot went off the skate of Taylor Raddysh to make it 4-1 at 12:55 in the third period.

The Wild leave Monday for a four-game, six-day road trip that starts Tuesday in Calgary and ends next Sunday in Seattle. In between, the Wild will play back-to-back games in Vancouver and Edmonton on Thursday and Friday.

Related Articles