Blues, Blackhawks Lose, NHL All-Star Game Sunday

By ESPN

The Minnesota Wild are heading into the All-Star break atop the Western Conference, and they're not showing any signs of slowing down.

Nino Niederreiter had a goal and two assists, Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves and the Wild defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-1 on Thursday night.

Mikael Granlund added a goal and an assist, and Erik Haula, Tyler Graovac and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild, who are 21-3-2 in their last 26 games. Heading into the break with 69 points, Minnesota trails Washington by three in the race for the league's best record.

Before this year, the latest the Wild had led the Western Conference was in 2011, when they were on top in mid-December.

"I personally haven't been in a situation like that in a long time," Niederreiter said. "It's fun to be in the hunted seat."

Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 21st goal for the Blues, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Carter Hutton stopped 25 of 30 shots before being pulled early in the third period.

"We just don't seem to handle the good stuff very well," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, whose team had posted a shutout in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. "To come back and play the way we did today is disappointing. It's too much of a recurring theme here."

Minnesota's offense has carried the Wild through this hot stretch. The Wild scored five goals for the 12th time in 48 games this year. They did it just 11 times all of last year. And they've done it with balance. Haula became Minnesota eighth player with at least 10 goals on the season, the most in the NHL.

"It's really big for us that we have four really good lines," said Haula, one of 12 Wild players to register a point on the night. "I think we've been really good at picking each other up. Even if it's not going for somebody, you don't have that pressure this year."

Haula and Tarasenko traded goals early in the second period before Graovac put Minnesota ahead for good with a deflection of a centering pass by Niederreiter. The Wild then put it away with a three-goal flurry that spanned the second intermission.

Koivu scored a power-play goal with 11 seconds left in the second period, chipping a rebound over a sprawled Hutton. Then, less than 2 minutes into the third period, Niederreiter beat him with a long, unscreened wrist shot.

Less than a minute later, Hutton got out of position on a wraparound attempt by Jason Zucker, leading to an easy tap-in for Granlund.

It all added up to another bad loss for the Blues who have given up 23 goals in their last four defeats.

"We've got a couple days to really look in the mirror," St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "We're going to have to because we play a lot of hockey in the second half and we can't afford situations like this."

Meanwhile, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who's heading to Los Angeles to coach the Western Conference All-Stars, was more than impressed with the players who are staying home over the break.

"I thought that was our most complete game in a long time," Boudreau said. "I think every line got a goal today. It's a different kind of team than I've had in the past, but it's a very enjoyable one to coach."

Jets 5, Blackhawks 3

The Winnipeg Jets were just OK for most of the first part of the season. Except for their games against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Against the Blackhawks, they were perfect.

Andrew Copp and Bryan Little scored in a 32-second span in the third period, and Winnipeg continued its dominance against Chicago with a 5-3 victory on Thursday on the final night before the NHL All-Star break.

"For some reason, we elevate our game when we play this team and we always give our best," Little said. "The big thing for us is having that confidence and having that energy and just will to win against other teams. For some reason, we just have these guys' numbers."

Winnipeg (23-25-4) improved to 4-0 against Chicago (30-16-5), outscoring the Blackhawks 13-4. It had dropped four in a row against Chicago coming into the season.

"These are huge points," said Connor Hellebuyck, who made 38 saves in his first appearance since Jan. 13. "It doesn't matter what team we're playing, we need to continue to grow our team and continue to get points and think these two are going to spring us post All-Star break."

Little, Copp, rookie Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist, helping the Jets to their third win in their last nine games.

The Blackhawks had a 3-2 lead before Copp tipped Josh Morrissey's shot past Scott Darling with 4:03 left. Little then blasted a shot by Darling for his 13th of the season, silencing the crowd of 21,746.

Scheifele added an empty-netter at 17:57 for his 22nd goal, moving the center into a tie with Laine for the team lead.

"I thought we had good control of the game," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "They were getting chances, but we were playing well. It was just two sets of two quick goals. It totally changed the game."

Keith, Nick Schmaltz and Tanner Kero scored for the Blackhawks, who allowed four goals in the third period of a 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Darling finished with 28 stops.

Winnipeg also scored two goals in a 42-second span in the first, continuing a disturbing trend for Chicago. The Blackhawks allowed two in 46 seconds against Vancouver on Sunday, and then surrendered a pair of goals in 30 seconds against the Lightning.

"It's hard to accept these two. Especially this one today," defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said. "It's going to kind of ruin the break a little bit. It's going to take a little while to swallow the way we've lost this one."

Winnipeg jumped in front in the first when Little made a great pass across the ice to Laine, who drove a one-timer by Darling for a power-play goal at 6:16. Laine returned Tuesday after missing eight games with a concussion.

Jacob Trouba then had a big slap shot go off the right skate of Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell and past Darling, with Shawn Matthias getting his stick on the puck just before it crossed the line. It was Matthias' seventh of the season.

"There were plays that could have been defended against for sure tonight," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We always talk about important shifts. That's the first shift after a goal, a key shift in games."

The Blackhawks, who controlled much of the early action, then got one back after Nic Petan was whistled for hooking at 13:02. Just 5 seconds into the ensuing power play, Keith drove a slap shot by Hellebuyck from the left point with Chicago center Artem Anisimov providing a perfect screen in front.

Schmaltz got the tying goal 4 minutes into the second. While Winnipeg defenseman Mark Stuart repeatedly checked Chicago center Marcus Kruger in the back while the two were on the ice, Schmaltz picked up the loose puck, skated in and beat Hellebuyck on the short side for his third of the season.

Thursday, January 26 Scoreboard

Boston 4, Pittsburgh 3

Washington 5, New Jersey 2

New York Islanders 3, Montreal 1

Philadelphia 2, Toronto 1

Los Angeles 3, Carolina 0

Calgary 3, Ottawa 2 (OT)

Florida 2, Tampa Bay 1 (OT)

Nashville 4, Columbus 3

Minnesota 5, St. Louis 1

Winnipeg 5, Chicago 3

Dallas 4, Buffalo 3

Arizona 3, Vancouver 0

Edmonton 4, San Jose 1

Friday, January 27

No games scheduled

Saturday, January 28

All-Star Game skills competition, Staples Center, Los Angeles

Sunday, January 29

All-Star Game, Staples Center, Los Angeles