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Fiala Shines, Dumba Ends Goal Drought, and Wild win 3-2.

By Jonathan Brill

SAINT PAUL, MN - FEBRUARY 4: Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild scores the game winning goal in overtime against Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Xcel Energy Center on February 4, 2020 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
SAINT PAUL, MN - FEBRUARY 4: Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild scores the game winning goal in overtime against Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks at the Xcel Energy Center on February 4, 2020 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Period Three

SAINT PAUL, MN – FEBRUARY 4: Alex Stalock #32, Mats Zuccarello #36, Eric Staal #12 and Brad Hunt #77 of the Minnesota Wild defend their goal against Zack Smith #15 and Alex Nylander #92 of the Chicago Blackhawks during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on February 4, 2020, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
SAINT PAUL, MN – FEBRUARY 4: Alex Stalock #32, Mats Zuccarello #36, Eric Staal #12 and Brad Hunt #77 of the Minnesota Wild defend their goal against Zack Smith #15 and Alex Nylander #92 of the Chicago Blackhawks during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on February 4, 2020, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The third period was much of the same. The Wild came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders.

Yet at the 6:23 mark of the third period, Adam Boqvist received a pass off of an offensive zone draw and threw the puck on net. At the time of the shot, Jonas Brodin was tied up with a Blackhawk player in-front of the net. Stalock didn’t have a chance to see the puck leave Boqvist’s stick. It was a tough break because the shot didn’t seem that hard, but it had eyes and ended Stalock’s shutout.

The Wild continued to play good defensive hockey following the goal. They were rewarded in the form of a Ryan Donato breakaway with less than 10 minutes left in the third period. Streaking toward the net, Donato made his move, but Crawford was able to come out with the puck.

At the 16:50 mark in the third period, the air sucked out of the building. Every fan inside of the Xcel thought in their head “not this again.” Chicago won an offensive zone faceoff and from the half wall, Ollie Matta threw a puck on net that found its way up and over Stalock’s left shoulder. Just an awful angle, but again with traffic in front, Stalock had no idea where the puck was.

The Wild headed into overtime, where they’ve consistently struggled, needing to secure two points against the Three-Headed Monster Minnesota battled much the past decade.

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