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St. Paul, Minn. • Jonathan Toews scored a power-play goal 3:09 into overtime to lift the Chicago Blackhawks over the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Ryan Suter was called for holding midway through the overtime, and with the man advantage, Toews slipped a rebound between the skates of goalie Darcy Kuemper. Chicago closed within five points of the Wild for the conference lead.
Toews also had two assists, and Richard Panik had a goal and an assist. Corey Crawford stopped 35 of 38 shots as the Blackhawks snapped an eight-game regular-season losing streak against Minnesota.
Nino Niederreiter had two assists for the Wild, and Kuemper had 28 saves.
Minnesota's Erik Haula scored with 3:03 left in the third period to tie it at 3. Defenseman Marco Scandella carried the puck from behind his own blue line deep into the Chicago zone, then feathered a backhanded pass across the goalmouth, where Haula was waiting to tip it past Crawford.
The Wild entered with a strong lead in the Central Division and have played two fewer games than second-place Chicago. However, Minnesota played Tuesday night at Winnipeg, while the Blackhawks had been resting since a Feb. 4 game at Dallas.
Perhaps feeling the effect of that late-night flight, the Wild looked sluggish early as Chicago raced to a 2-0 lead. Ryan Hartman started the scoring at 10:54 of the first period when Vinnie Hinostroza carried the puck deep into the Minnesota zone and centered to the slot, where Hartman one-timed it past Kuemper.
Chicago doubled its lead 1:09 into the second period as Toews found Nick Schmaltz alone in front of the net for an easy tap-in.
Minnesota got one back 37 seconds later when Jared Spurgeon finished a rush with a wrist shot over Crawford's left shoulder.
That goal energized the Wild, who outshot the Blackhawks 19-10 in the second period and dominated the next 15 minutes of play.
Zach Parise tied it at 7:15 of the second on a disputed goal. Charlie Coyle threw the puck toward the net, and Parise, with his back to the goal, tipped it between his legs. Crawford made the save, but Parise spun around and chipped the rebound over the goalie.
Chicago challenged the play, arguing that Parise had been offside when Minnesota's rush began. After a lengthy delay, the officials ruled the video evidence was inconclusive and the call stood.
Late in the period, Panik put Chicago on top 3-2 when he controlled a pass from Niklas Hjalmarsson and tucked the puck just inside the post.
NOTES: Wednesday's game was the first of a franchise-record eight-game homestand for Minnesota. ... The Wild recalled D Gustav Olofsson from Iowa of the AHL. He replaced D Mike Reilly, who was sent to Iowa. ... Coyle played in his 284th consecutive game, breaking Antti Laaksonen's franchise record. Laaksonen played for the Wild from 2000 to 2004.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Chicago's six-game road trip continues on Friday night at Winnipeg.
Wild: Minnesota hosts Tampa Bay on Friday night.
NHL standings
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Montreal 55 30 17 8 68 158 138
Ottawa 51 27 18 6 60 137 141
Toronto 52 25 17 10 60 163 156
Boston 55 26 23 6 58 143 149
Florida 52 23 19 10 56 124 143
Detroit 53 22 21 10 54 134 155
Buffalo 53 22 21 10 54 131 149
Tampa Bay 54 24 24 6 54 149 157
Metropolitan GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Washington 54 37 11 6 80 180 114
Columbus 52 34 13 5 73 173 129
Pittsburgh 52 33 13 6 72 186 150
N.Y. Rangers 53 34 18 1 69 181 140
Philadelphia 54 26 21 7 59 144 164
N.Y. Islanders 51 23 18 10 56 153 153
New Jersey 54 23 21 10 56 127 153
Carolina 52 24 21 7 55 138 151
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Minnesota 53 35 12 6 76 179 125
Chicago 55 33 17 5 71 156 144
Nashville 53 26 19 8 60 146 137
St. Louis 54 27 22 5 59 155 162
Winnipeg 56 25 27 4 54 163 176
Dallas 54 21 23 10 52 148 172
Colorado 50 15 33 2 32 103 168
Pacific GP W L OT Pts GF GA
San Jose 54 33 17 4 70 148 126
Edmonton 55 29 18 8 66 156 141
Anaheim 55 28 17 10 66 142 139
Calgary 56 28 25 3 59 149 159
Los Angeles 54 27 23 4 58 132 133
Vancouver 53 23 24 6 52 125 154
Arizona 51 17 28 6 40 116 161
Wednesday's game
Chicago 4, Minnesota 3, OT
Thursday's games
Vancouver at Columbus, 5 p.m.
Detroit at Washington, 5 p.m.
Nashville at N.Y. Rangers, 5 p.m.
Anaheim at Buffalo, 5 p.m.
San Jose at Boston, 5 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at Philadelphia, 5 p.m.
Dallas at Ottawa, 5:30 p.m.
Los Angeles at Florida, 5:30 p.m.
St. Louis at Toronto, 5:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Colorado, 7 p.m.
Montreal at Arizona, 7 p.m.
ECHL standings
Eastern Conference
North GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Manchester 47 28 11 4 4 64 185 151
Reading 45 28 14 1 2 59 170 127
Adirondack 45 25 13 4 3 57 160 140
Wheeling 44 24 15 5 0 53 157 133
Brampton 44 24 15 2 3 53 155 156
Elmira 46 9 32 5 0 23 103 184
South GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Florida 44 31 9 2 2 66 164 125
Orlando 46 24 15 5 2 55 174 168
Greenville 47 24 18 4 1 53 150 158
South Carolina 46 24 19 2 1 51 137 129
Cincinnati 46 21 21 4 0 46 131 134
Atlanta 46 17 22 6 1 41 157 181
Norfolk 45 15 26 4 0 34 122 167
Western Conference
Central GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Toledo 45 32 11 1 1 66 185 133
Fort Wayne 44 26 14 4 0 56 164 135
Quad City 45 25 18 0 2 52 143 141
Tulsa 51 24 23 4 0 52 148 156
Kalamazoo 45 22 19 1 3 48 128 148
Wichita 43 15 24 3 1 34 124 166
Indy 46 14 29 1 2 31 113 177
Mountain GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA
Colorado 48 30 14 1 3 64 176 142
Allen 49 29 16 2 2 62 185 145
Idaho 47 24 16 5 2 55 159 157
Alaska 44 24 14 1 5 54 145 139
Utah 46 23 19 3 1 50 150 157
Missouri 47 21 19 2 5 49 156 165
Rapid City 45 15 23 7 0 37 135 162
Wednesday's Games
Greenville 6, Norfolk 2
Cincinnati 5, Elmira 1
Colorado 5, Wichita 3
Allen at Rapid City, late
Wheeling at Idaho, late
Utah at Alaska, late
Thursday's games
South Carolina at Reading, 5 p.m.
Utah at Alaska, 9:15 p.m.