Sometimes you play your best hockey. And sometimes, it’s still not enough.
The Chicago Blackhawks had the Minnesota Wild on the ropes in the first period of Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime loss at the United Center. Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser had three shots on goal and set the tone early for the Hawks.
Coach Jeff Blashill wanted his players to shoot more, and they listened. The Hawks outshot the visitors 20-5 in the first period.
The crowd got their money’s worth for the next two periods. Connor Bedard scored his 14th goal of the season, Jason Dickinson scored his second and the Hawks had everything in control.
Then things went 180 degrees. Again.
Wild defenseman Brock Faber scored with 13.6 seconds left in the second period, and the back-and-forth game went to overtime before turning into another frustrating loss for the Hawks.
Photos: Chicago Blackhawks lose 4-3 to the Minnesota Wild in overtime
The Hawks (10-8-5) collected a point but fell when Kirill Kaprizov sent a snipe past Spencer Knight (20 saves) with a man advantage 1:38 into OT.
So much for those Kaprizov-to-the-Hawks trade rumors. The Wild (13-7-4) are 16-0-1 in their last 17 meetings with the Hawks.
“I thought there were times throughout the year we did a good job of either coming back or winning those close games, (but) now we’ve given up a couple leads here in the last few games,” Blashill said. “Glad we’re in that spot, (but) part of the learning process is to find a way to make sure there’s no way to lose that game.”
The Hawks had the rare occurrence of both outshooting their opponent (37-24) and having a good second period. The common occurrence of losing leads continued its unwelcome stay. They saw 2-0 and 3-2 advantages get erased.
“You’re always going to be frustrated after a loss … but everyone in the conference is so close and every point matters,” Bedard said. “We’ve got to figure out how to win.
“End of the day, it’s over. Now we’ve got to see what went right, see what went wrong and keep improving.”
Bedard found himself in the middle of another late controversial penalty call. In overtime, he was drilled by Joel Eriksson Ek going for a loose puck.
Ilya Mikheyev delivered a return hit to the Wild forward but was called for interference. The Hawks were on the penalty kill when Kaprizov launched the game-winning goal.
That came after a no-call on Bedard’s late breakaway attempt against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday. He argued the call and was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, leading to Jaden Schwartz’s game-winning goal in the Kraken’s 3-2 road win.
“I got flattened so I didn’t get to see it, (but) the hit on me was super clean,” Bedard said. “Maybe the puck was at his feet or something, and (Mikheyev) makes a great hit. But at the end of the day, we’re not going to blame the refs.”
Added Blashill: “If I was to get climbing into (referee Furman South’s) mind, he thought (Mikheyev) went over and hit him because he hit Connor. The reality is right before Eriksson Ek got hit, he had the puck. It’s not interference.”
The momentum shifted after Tyler Bertuzzi’s second-period goal — which would’ve extended the Hawks lead to 3-0 — was waved off after it was determined the Hawks were offside. The Wild outscored the Hawks 4-1 after that goal was erased.
“I thought we played a full game,” Bertuzzi said. “Blowing the lead there is something we have to work on, but this is something we can build off.”
The Hawks defensemen put on a show in front of the Thanksgiving Eve crowd. Sam Rinzel had the primary assist on Bedard’s goal at 12:08 in the second, and Artyom Levshunov scored his first NHL goal at the 5:31 mark in the third.
“I thought it was going to be a bigger celebration, but that was pretty cool,” Blashill said. “(Levshunov’s) mom and brother are still in town, so that was pretty cool.”
Added Bedard: “(Bertuzzi) makes a great play to (Rinzel). The patience and awareness to not just rip it and panic in moments like those (is why) I was able to get a really easy goal.”
It’s hard when you play so well and still lose. The Hawks have no time to dwell on the loss with the Nashville Predators looming Friday, so Blashill told his team simply, “Let’s get better.”
“The thing about the league is you have to come to the level of urgency every night, and it’s good we came with it tonight and we have to come in again Friday,” Blashill said. “We got one point tonight. You can see we deserved two, but that’s not the way it works.
“If you come with the same effort on Friday, (you) put yourself in a great position to win that game.”
