Blackhawks undone by late breakdown in loss to Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Not eight minutes after Seth Jones and Erik Gustafsson teamed up for a long-awaited goal Saturday, a miscommunication involving Jones and Gustafsson rendered the goal moot.

The two defensemen as well as Jonathan Toews all pursued a Wild dump-in with just over three minutes to play, but not one got there first. Two quick passes later, a wide-open Ryan Hartman buried a backdoor shot to restore Minnesota’s lead in an eventual 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.

“Miscommunication in the D-zone — seems like it has happened a lot this year in the last few minutes of a game,” Jones said.

“We just had a little brain lapse,” interim coach Derek King added. “We doubled up and we didn’t cover the front. Against good hockey teams like that, they’re going to put it in the back of your net.”

Jones had earlier ripped a perfectly placed snipe over Wild goalie Cam Talbot’s glove hand to tie the game with 11:03 left, completing a beautiful play that involved Gustafsson and Dylan Strome but was primarily orchestrated by Patrick Kane. It was Jones’ first goal since Dec. 2 — 35 games ago — and he admitted postgame it was a “relief.”

The Hawks’ resilience in tough circumstances, with the trade deadline approaching, to keep the game competitive down to the wire deserves credit. Without that breakdown, they could’ve easily gotten a point or two out of the afternoon, not that standings points really matter at this point.

But there was little doubt the Wild, who swept the four-game season series, were the better team: they dominated shot attempts 68-38, shots on goal 34-22 and scoring chances 34-17.

This story will be updated.

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