Hawks fall to Wild 3-2 in Minnesota

The Blackhawks dropped their 2nd game in a row tonight in somewhat frustrating fashion against the Minnesota Wild. The turning point, in my eyes, was when Brian Campbell attempted to do his spin-o-rama in the Wild zone, was tripped and lost the puck. The Wild picked it up, stormed down the ice and somehow slipped the puck past Huet. Admittedly, I think it was a very weak goal on Huet’s part, but I really think the refs missed Campbell getting tripped up.

The Hawks did outshoot the Wild tonight 2 to 1 (36-18), but it seemed most of the shots were from outside the circles with nobody screening Backstrom. To Backstrom’s credit, he did play really well tonight and made the big saves when he needed to, but if the Hawks are going to settle for long distance shots, they need to get bodies in front of the net.

As for Huet, he looked a little shaky again in net and just doesn’t quite look like the same goalie that ended last season on such a hot streak. I don’t think there was much he could have done on the first and third goals, but he just looks a little shaky to me. It’s still too early for me to panic about Huet, but I think this whole mess with him and Khabibulin is affecting him more between the ears and less actually between the pipes. No doubt he has the ability; let’s just hope he finds it sooner than later.

Now a few notes from the game tonight:

-Dave Bolland had a great penalty kill shift during the Wild’s second penalty. He looked like a man on a mission and that’s always a welcome sight.

-Again, I thought Campbell was tripped and it was a bad no call from the referees. You can be the judge from the video below…and you can also watch the second goal again.

-The Hawks did have some good chances on the 5-3, but you just have to bury those chances.

-Duncan Keith’s decision to step up right before he scored their second goal was a great decision. That’s the perfect opportunity to do so.


The Hawks have the rest of the week to prepare for the Stars. The Stars sit at 3-4-2 and host the Wild Wednesday night before they take on the Hawks Friday night at the UC at 7:30pm.