Posted: October 31, 2010, 1:34 p.m. CT
By Jamie MacDonald
FOXSportsNorth.com
Minnesota closed out its October schedule with a 3-1 loss Saturday night, leaving the Wild 4-4-2 as they enter November. Partly to blame was the commission of an often fatal hockey flaw -- allowing a goal in the last minute of a period -- with 30.2 to play in the second, giving Chicago an advantage it did not relinquish.
Coming off a 7-4 trouncing at the hands of Edmonton the previous night in Chicago, the Blackhawks managed to outshoot and outchance the Wild nearly throughout.
"It just seemed we were hesitating, half a step behind what the other guy was thinking," said John Madden. "We weren't clicking on all cylinders, that's for sure. ... Kind of took us a while to get going, and, by that time, it was too late."
GAME-CHANGER
The greatest disappointment in allowing the late second-period goal may have been that Minnesota had pieced together its best collection of offensive chances during the preceding minute.
Over the course of the second, Chicago had built its shots lead from 10-8 at the intermission to 21-12 with five minutes remaining, but the Wild, with under 3:00 to play in the second, gave the Halloween Eve crowd a few reasons to believe in the treat of escaping the frame tied -- or even up one.
Andrew Brunette, Matt Cullen and Mikko Koivu all had at least one chance, while Koivu also dropped Ben Smith along the boards, all in the span of just over a minute.
A shift later, it was 1-0 after Troy Brouwer stick-handled the rebound of a Duncan Keith shot around and behind Niklas Backstrom.
"We had some opportunities," Brunette said of the most encouraging shift. "That's hockey. It would have been nice to keep that momentum going. ... That whole period we were on our heels a little bit, [and we] finally got a little action in their zone. I guess you could say [it was] a little heartbreaking, but we were playing with fire that whole period."
CULLEN WORKS BLUE
Chicago increased its lead to 2-0 at the 3:26 mark of the third, but Minnesota cut it to one with 5:54 to play. Soon after, Todd Richards went to a four-forward lineup, with Matt Cullen taking shifts at defense.
"We moved Cullen back to the point, just to get some more offense," Richards said. "I was periodically throwing guys around, but it was mainly Mikko, Bruno and Marty [Havlat], trying to get them out on the ice.
