St Paul, Minnesota: Chicago held on for a 1-0 win at Minnesota on Tuesday that pushed the Wild to the brink of elimination from the NHL play-offs, while Calgary avoided the same predicament by beating Anaheim in overtime.
Chicago’s Patrick Kane scored in the first period and that was enough for the Blackhawks to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semi-final series. Game 4 is in Minnesota again on Thursday.
Kane has six goals and five assists in nine play-off games, bouncing back impressively from the broken collarbone that kept him out of the last quarter of the regular season.
“We’d be very happy if you told us we’d be in this position before the series,” said Kane. “We have to keep it going. We know the hardest game is the one to close it out.”
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford made 30 saves, giving him 90 from 94 shots in the three games. Stifled time after time on chance after chance, the Wild have scored just once over their last 150-plus minutes on the ice.
“Two things: character and belief,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “There will be no feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re disappointed to be in this spot, but we’ve got to find a way.”
Calgary was also staring the barrel of a 3-0 deficit when it trailed into the final minute of regulation time against in-form Anaheim, but pulled out a vital 4-3 victory in overtime to put the series back in the balance.
Johnny Gaudreau scored with 19.5 seconds left in the third period to tie the game for the Flames, who had an apparent goal disallowed minutes earlier.
In overtime, Mikael Backlund scored on a delayed penalty call to decide it and cut the series deficit to 2-1.
Joe Colborne had a short-handed goal for Calgary, while Brandon Bollig also connected. But Sam Bennett’s close-in shot, which seemed to barely sneak over the goal line, was disallowed in the third period after a video review.
Patrick Maroon, Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey scored for the Ducks in their first loss in these play-offs after they swept Winnipeg.
