Toews, Blackhawks Tame the Wild
The clash of the night featured the NHL's performance of the night.
The Chicago Blackhawks came to St Paul on a roll and a mission. Incredibly, when the league's evening began, the black-&-blue Central Division had the largest spread between top spot and the field.
Minnesota's view from first place was gained by a hot spell that was only stopped by a hotter Columbus Blue Jacket squad. They've maintained, but the Blackhawks have been closing hard, and that's what was in evidence in last night's 5-3 victory:
This snapped the Wild's dominating spell over Chicago in recent times; their now 8-1-1 record against the Hawks is surely that.
All the more reason why Toews & Co considered this four-pointer a must-win. They're still within striking distance:
Minnesota's rise started when Bruce Boudreau was named head coach after he'd been fired by Anaheim for the sin of not taking a talented club deeper than the first round in last spring's playoffs. Dude always seems to win division titles but has advanced to a conference final just one time.
He won four straight division championships with Washington and four more with Anaheim but couldn't make that leap to the finals, falling one game short in 2015.
True to regular-season form, then, Boudreau has the Wild are putting it all together. They're legitimate Cup contenders.
- Devan Dubnyk is one of the best goaltenders in the league;
- Mikael Granlund leads the Wild in scoring;
- Ryan Suter leads the Wild defense in scoring; and
- Free agent addition Eric Staal has been a great suprise.