Blackhawks Vs Wild: Minnesota Chases a 20th Straight Point, But a Goalie Mystery and Late Collapse Raise New Questions
In blackhawks vs wild, Minnesota returns home at 7: 30 p. m. ET with a 19-game point streak against Chicago on the line—yet the last meeting delivered an uncomfortable reminder that dominance on paper can still unravel in real time, especially when your starting goalie abruptly disappears down the tunnel in the final minutes.
Blackhawks Vs Wild at 7: 30 p. m. ET: Can Minnesota extend a 19-game point streak?
The Minnesota Wild (39-18-12) and Chicago Blackhawks (25-30-12) meet at Grand Casino Arena in the back end of a home-and-home series (7: 30 p. m. ET; HULU, +). Minnesota’s 4-3 overtime win at United Center on Tuesday pushed the Wild to 18-0-1 against Chicago dating to Feb. 4, 2020—a run described as the longest active point streak by one NHL team against another and the longest point streak against one team in Wild history.
For Minnesota, the immediate aim is simple: secure at least one point for a 20th straight game in this matchup, while trying to turn a single overtime win into something sturdier. Tuesday’s result also snapped a three-game winless streak for the Wild, after they had lost four of their previous five games entering that night.
Chicago, meanwhile, comes in led by center Connor Bedard, who had two assists Tuesday and leads the Blackhawks with 64 points (27 goals, 37 assists) in 54 games. The Blackhawks showed in the final minutes that they can still pull a game back from the edge, even while facing an opponent that has piled up points against them for years.
What actually happened with Filip Gustavsson—and why did it matter?
The defining image from Tuesday wasn’t an overtime celebration. It was Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson skating to the bench during a TV timeout with around six minutes left in the third period and heading straight down the tunnel, leaving teammates and staff visibly confused. Coach John Hynes said he initially did not know whether the issue was equipment or illness, noting that Gustavsson had previously gotten sick in a game in Colorado.
Gustavsson later explained it was not illness, saying he had “a problem with the gear, ” and that he knew it would take longer than a TV timeout, so he rushed to get it fixed. He missed about three minutes of game action. During that stretch, Jesper Wallstedt relieved him, logging 3: 27 of ice time and making two saves. Hynes described those as “two huge saves, ” and said that once the staff realized the problem was not physical, the decision was made—after discussion with goalie coach Freddy Chabot—to go back to Gustavsson.
The Wild still won, 4-3 in overtime, on a goal by Mats Zuccarello. But the sequence created a second storyline alongside the point streak: how quickly structure can wobble when a team is forced to improvise in high-leverage minutes. The episode also placed additional attention on game management late in the third period, when Minnesota surrendered a tying goal with just under two minutes remaining.
What the overtime win revealed: dominance early, drift late, and pressure to prove it’s sustainable
From Minnesota’s perspective, the 4-3 overtime win contained both a warning and a lifeline. The Wild took a 3-1 lead after what was described as a dominant first period, with a 15-2 edge in scoring chances and 10-0 in high-danger chances. Yet the game tightened, and Chicago tied it on a Connor Bedard to Frank Nazar two-on-one goal with 1: 40 left in regulation.
Zuccarello framed the result as a needed step back into the win column, acknowledging uneven segments: a strong first period, a “so-so” second, and a third where Minnesota “stopped making plays” and “played a little bit too easy. ” Marcus Johansson described the broader mood as a push-and-pull of “ups and downs, ” calling it “wasn’t our best game, but a win’s a win, ” and pointing to the need to build confidence from it.
The larger tension is that Minnesota’s matchup streak against Chicago looks like certainty until it doesn’t. The Wild can chase a milestone point streak in blackhawks vs wild while also confronting how thin the margin can become when a late lead turns into overtime. That tension has also been amplified internally: Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin had demanded more urgency after what was described as a “not acceptable” stretch.
Thursday’s game, then, is not only about the streak. It is also a test of whether Minnesota can tighten the parts of its game that were exposed even in victory—late-game decision-making, response to sudden disruption in net, and the ability to close without letting a dominant opening act become a frantic finish. For Chicago, it is another chance to break a long-running pattern and to ride the late push they found Tuesday, with Bedard continuing to drive their offense.
