Zucker’s OT goal gives Wild 4-3 comeback win vs. Blackhawks

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Ryan Suter tied it with 23 seconds left in the third period and Jason Zucker scored in overtime, rallying the Minnesota Wild past the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Thursday night.

Zucker had two goals and an assist, including a breakaway backhander 3:25 into overtime. Zach Parise sent a long pass across the red line to a streaking Zucker, whose shot went between Cam Ward’s pads to give the Wild (1-1-1) their first win of the season.

Suter’s takeaway gave the Wild possession on that play, after he batted in a backhander off a short-handed rebound of Parise’s shot to make it 3-3.

Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist for the Blackhawks, including a go-ahead score on a power play early in the third period, but the Wild put together their most complete offensive performance to date with 46 shots on goal. Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for the Wild.

Eric Staal scored for Minnesota in the second period on assists from Suter and Zucker, and Zucker tied it with 2.8 seconds left before the second intermission by snagging Staal’s off-target pass and moving the puck from his backhand to his forehand.

Jonathan Toews kept up his season-opening surge with two assists for the Blackahwks. He set up DeBrincat’s first score during a 4-on-4 with a hard stop on a rush to slide the puck across the slot. Then he fed rookie Dominik Kahun for his first NHL goal less than three minutes later.

Patrick Kane assisted on DeBrincat’s second score, giving the Toews-Kane-DeBrincat trio a whopping 22 points in four games. Toews has a team-leading five goals and three assists for the Blackhawks (2-0-2), who have 18 goals in four games after missing the playoffs last spring for the first time in 10 years.

Ward, keeping the net warm for the expected return next week of Corey Crawford from a concussion that cut short his 2017-18 season, made a season-high 42 saves for the Blackhawks. Each of their four games have been decided in overtime.

The 20-year-old DeBrincat, playing on the Toews-anchored first line with Kahun, has 59 points in 86 career games coming off his solid rookie season.

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