Tyler Pitlick’s overtime deflection lifts Wild past Blackhawks after late equalizer

Chicago grabbed the lead, Minnesota kept the last push alive

Minnesota opened the scoring at 7:56 of the first period when Rieger Lorenz beat Arvid Soderblom with a wrist shot, with Dylan Gambrell and Daemon Hunt collecting the assists. It looked like the start of a tidy Wild night, but Chicago answered before the intermission. Dominic Toninato scored at 12:12, taking helpers from Kevin Korchinski and Gavin Hayes to send the game into the break tied 1-1.

The middle turn belonged to the Blackhawks. Dillon Boucher put Chicago ahead 2-1 at 4:19 of the second period, finishing a wrist shot off passes from Connor Mylymok and Sacha Boisvert. For a team that would finish with only 16 shots, that go-ahead goal mattered because it forced Minnesota to spend the rest of regulation chasing an equalizer.

The Wild eventually found it, and they found it from the same places that had been productive earlier. Nico Sturm tied the game at 14:06 of the third period on a tip-in, with Olli Maatta and Lorenz credited on the play. Overtime then ended one touch from victory: Pitlick redirected a puck at 3:58, with Hunter Haight and Hunt earning the assists on the winner. Minnesota did not erase Chicago quickly, but it kept building enough chances to stay alive until the game turned.

More shots, more contributors, and a heavier workload for Soderblom

The final numbers help explain why the Wild were still in position to win late. Minnesota finished with 26 shots to Chicago’s 16, a gap that left Soderblom with the busier night and Calvin Pickard with the lighter one. Soderblom stopped 23 shots for Chicago, while Pickard made 14 saves for Minnesota. In a one-goal overtime game, that difference in volume does not settle every argument, but it does show which side kept asking for one more stop.

Minnesota also got offense from more corners of the lineup. Lorenz had a goal and an assist, Hunt produced two assists from the back end, and Sturm and Pitlick supplied the finishing touches. Maatta, Gambrell and Haight each chipped in an assist as well. Chicago had its moments, but its attack was far more concentrated: Toninato scored once and put five shots on net, Boucher scored once and had three shots, and together they accounted for half of the Blackhawks’ total shot output.

That contrast is one of the cleaner takeaways from the night. Chicago had enough top-line contributions to lead after Boucher’s second-period goal, but Minnesota kept generating looks from multiple skaters until the tie broke its way. When a game reaches overtime after being even deep into the third, depth of involvement matters almost as much as the finishing touch itself.

Our take: the special teams were passengers, and that shifts the scrutiny elsewhere

Our take: this was not a polished special-teams game from either side. Chicago went 0-for-4 on the power play, Minnesota went 0-for-5, and that left all five goals to be settled at even strength or in overtime. In a game this tight, that matters. The Blackhawks had four opportunities to add to a 2-1 lead and did not convert; the Wild had five chances to erase or extend pressure and could not capitalize either.

For Minnesota, the result is encouraging, but the obvious area to clean up is possession off the draw. The Wild won only 38.6 percent of faceoffs, yet still outshot Chicago by 10 and found three goals. That combination suggests the offense was good enough to survive a weakness, not that the weakness disappeared. If Minnesota can pair this level of shot generation with better work at the dots, it gives itself a simpler path than waiting until 14:06 of the third period to pull even.

For Chicago, the review starts with a different imbalance. The Blackhawks won 61.4 percent of the faceoffs and outhit Minnesota 41-29, but those advantages did not translate into enough offense. Sixteen shots is a thin total, and Toninato plus Boucher supplied eight of them. That does not erase the positives Chicago showed in the circle or in the physical game, but it does point to the next question: how to turn those wins into broader pressure and more pucks reaching the net. On this night, Minnesota had more answers, and Pitlick’s deflection was the last one.

Scoring moments

1. 1st · 7:56

   Rieger Lorenz Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Dylan Gambrell (1), Daemon Hunt (1)

2. 1st · 12:12

   Dominic Toninato Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Kevin Korchinski (1), Gavin Hayes (1)

3. 2nd · 4:19

   Dillon Boucher Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Connor Mylymok (1), Sacha Boisvert (1)

4. 3rd · 14:06

   Nico Sturm Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Olli Maatta (1), Rieger Lorenz (1)

5. OT · 3:58

   Tyler Pitlick Goal (1) Deflected, assists: Hunter Haight (1), Daemon Hunt (2)