Wild hope to solve Blackhawks in Game 3

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Minnesota Wild hope to use home ice to get back into the Western Conference semifinals when they host the Chicago Blackhawks in Tuesday's Game 3 battle at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild head home facing a 0-2 deficit in this best-of-seven set after following a 4-3 loss in Friday's opener with a 4-1 setback on Sunday. Chicago has won all five home games this postseason and improved to 8-0 all-time at home against the Wild in the playoffs.

"We've had some good success in this building," said Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp after the Game 2 victory. "We will enjoy the win tonight and gear up for a tough two games coming up."

Minnesota, which will also host the Blackhawks on Thursday, went 2-1 on home ice during its opening-round win over the St. Louis Blues. Chicago, meanwhile, posted a 1-2 mark in Nashville before ousting the Predators from the first round.

Chicago allowed the Wild to tie Game 1 after grabbing an early 3-0 cushion but the Blackhawks fared much better with a lead on Sunday. Jonathan Toews handed the home team a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 12:28 of the second period and the Blackhawks would never allow Minnesota to tie the game.

Patrick Kane pushed Chicago's edge to 2-0 with 19.9 seconds remaining in the second period. Kane scored twice in Game 2, adding an empty-net marker with 2:07 remaining in the third period. He recorded his 100th and 101st career playoff points with the two goals and has 10 points (5G, 5A) in eight postseason games this spring.

Kane's first goal was a wrister from the right circle that beat Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk under his arm.

"I think you would much rather be in a one-goal game going into the third period," Dubnyk said. "It's definitely disappointing to give up one at the end of the period like that."

Chicago improved to 3-0 when leading after two periods during the playoffs. The Blackhawks were 25-0-0 in the situation during the regular season.

Sharp tallied a goal and an assist in the win, while Corey Crawford made 30 saves for the victory.

Wild head coach Mike Yeo, meanwhile, was not pleased with how careless his team was with the puck.

"We didn't make those mistakes. I don't know what team played that game, but it wasn't us tonight," Yeo said. "It was 0-0 through the midway point of the game. We were doing some OK things without the puck to keep it at 0-0, but with the puck, like I said, that's not us."

Matt Dumba scored the lone goal for Minnesota, with his power-play goal making it a 2-1 contest just 80 seconds into the third period. Sharp, however, would restore Chicago's two-goal edge when he tallied at the 7:39 mark of the third stanza.

Dubnyk allowed three goals on 30 shots for the Wild, who have lost consecutive games for the first time since acquiring the goaltender from Arizona on Jan. 14.

Minnesota is now 2-8 in Game 2s, last winning one in a first-round matchup with Colorado in 2008.

Wild forward Justin Fontaine was out of the lineup with a lower-body injury that he suffered in Game 1. Erik Haula replaced Fontaine in the lineup and had two shots on goal in 10 minutes, 13 seconds of ice time.

This is the third postseason series between Chicago and the Wild. The Blackhawks beat Minnesota in five games two years ago in the opening round before taking the 2014 conference semifinal encounter in six.

The Wild trailed Chicago two games to none in each of the previous playoff encounters and won Game 3 both times.