Spurgeon breaks a 33-game scoreless streak with two goals as Minnesota beats Chicago 3-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jared Spurgeon ended a 33-game drought with two of Minnesota’s three goals in the second half and the Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Friday.

Marco Rossi also scored for Minnesota and Marc-Andre Fleury, who turned 40 on Thursday, made 20 saves and improved the score to 5-0-1.

The Wild are 13-0-1 against the Blackhawks since February 4, 2020.

Spurgeon’s long wrist shot from just inside the blue line handcuffed Petr Mrazek to a 3-2 lead late in the second period. On his 35th birthday, Spurgeon’s first goals since April 8, 2023 and his eighth multi-goal game of his career.

Ryan Donato scored two goals and Mrazek stopped 27 shots for Chicago, which is tied with Nashville for the fewest points in the NHL with 18.

Takeaways

Blackhawks: Chicago has scored first 13 times this season. Only four teams have scored more points: Minnesota (15), Anaheim (14), Carolina (14) and Tampa Bay (14).

Wild: Fifteen times in the team’s 23 games, Wild goaltenders allowed two or fewer goals, a best performance in the NHL. Entering the game, Minnesota led the NHL with a GAA of 2.34 and a save percentage of .919.

Key moment

Rossi and Spurgeon scored 17 seconds apart midway through the second period – Minnesota’s fastest two goals since 15 seconds apart on Dec. 4, 2022 – to tie the game 2-2. Rossi completed a nice passing game with Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson before a Spurgeon shot in the goal crease deflected off a defender’s skate.

Key statistics

Kaprizov played his 300th career game. He has scored 174 goals and recorded 192 assists for 366 career points. The only active players with more points in 300 games are Sidney Crosby (407), Connor McDavid (394), Alex Ovechkin (384) and Evgeni Malkin (371). Only Ovechkin (204) and Auston Matthews (176) have scored more goals.

Next

The Blackhawks host Columbus on Sunday. Minnesota plays Nashville at home on Saturday.

——

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHLbr/)