CHICAGO — Marcus Foligno and Nick Foligno both scored Wednesday night. Younger brother Marcus also got into a fight and then walked away with the win.
Marcus Foligno snapped a third-period tie and Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves, sending the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over Nick Foligno and the lowly Chicago Blackhawks.
The Foligno brothers matched up in the first game for the Central Division foes after the All-Star break, and Marcus Foligno's ninth goal of the season lifted Minnesota to its 11th consecutive victory over Chicago. Foligno also tangled with Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi in the second.
“Yeah, it's weird,” Foligno said of fighting with his brother's teammate. “Nick says they're all good guys.”
Nick Foligno called it “just two big boys fighting.”
“It's never easy or fun to watch, but at the end of the day it's my teammate over there so I'm cheering him on,” he said, “and you know we'll discuss that in the summer.”
Recent callup Jake Lucchini scored in the first for Minnesota, which had dropped two in a row heading into their break.
The game was tied at 1 when Vinni Lettieri set up Foligno right on the doorstep for the tap-in goal. It was Lettieri's second assist of the game in his return from a foot injury.
“Unbelievable,” Foligno said of the feed from Lettieri. “I think (Frederick) Gaudreau did an awesome (line) change. Vinni comes flying off. I had a chance there coming around the net, and it was nice to get it back. Vinni, unbelievable game by him. He stopped a goal, too. He was all over it tonight.”
Petr Mrázek made 23 stops for Chicago in the opener of a five-game homestand. Tyler Johnson skated for 16 1/2 minutes after returning from a right foot injury.
Minnesota jumped in front on Lucchini's second career goal with 7:33 left in the first period. The 28-year-old forward beat Mrázek on the goaltender's stick side with a slap shot from the high slot.
The puck bounced out of the net and play continued before the horn sounded, giving Lucchini a chance to celebrate his first goal since Jan. 1, 2023, scored against Buffalo while he was playing for the Ottawa Senators.
“I saw it hit the post,” Lucchini said. “I thought it hit post post and went out. But the second post that I thought it was … it didn’t sound right. I had no idea."
“Any goal you score in the NHL is special, and United Center against the Blackhawks is obviously pretty cool,” he added.
After getting outshot 11-1 in the first period, Chicago responded with 6:16 remaining in the second. Philipp Kurashev made a great pass over to a streaking Nick Foligno, who knocked it home for his 10th goal.
The tying goal for the Blackhawks stopped a scoreless streak of more than 173 minutes. It was the team's first goal since a 6-2 loss at Seattle on Jan. 24.
“I was proud of the guys for righting the ship in the second and third and taking a lot of that game to them,” Nick Foligno said.
Boris Katchouk had a chance to put Chicago in front 3:50 into the third, but he was denied by a sprawling Gustavsson on a breakaway.
“It wasn’t pretty today,” Gustavsson told NHL.com after the game. “The second period was very bad for us. Then in the third, we just found a way to win today. It wasn’t pretty. It’s not the best. It wasn’t what we should do. We’ve got to learn from it tomorrow. Watch the video. Take the two points from this game and leave it there.”
NOTES
The Wild announced before the game that forward Pat Maroon will be out 4-6 weeks following back surgery on Tuesday... Brock Faber had an assist and has 30 points (four goals, 26 assists) in 50 games this season, tying Filip Kuba (2000-01) for the most by a rookie defenseman in Wild history. Faber’s 26 assists are also tied for the most in a season by any rookie in Wild history. … Wednesday was the first head-to-head NHL game between Nick and Marcus Foligno where each scored a goal
UP NEXT
Wild: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
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