Marcus Foligno and Nick Foligno both scored on Wednesday. Marcus Foligno also got into a fight, and then walked away with the win.
This one went to the younger brother.
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.
Photo: AFP
The Foligno brothers matched up in the first game for the Central Division foes after the All-Star break, and Marcus Foligno’s ninth of the season lifted Minnesota to their 11th consecutive victory over Chicago. Foligno also tangled with Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi in the second.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Marcus 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 and you know we’ll discuss that in the summer,” Nick Foligno said.
Jacob Lucchini scored in the first period for Minnesota, who had dropped two in a row.
The game was tied at 1-1 when Vinni Lettieri set up Marcus Foligno right on the doorstep for the tap-in goal. It was Lettieri’s second assist of the game on his return from a foot injury.
“Vinni, unbelievable game by him... He was all over tonight,” Marcus Foligno said.
Petr Mrazek made 23 stops for Chicago in the opener of a five-game homestand. Tyler Johnson skated for more than 16 minutes on his return from a foot injury.
Minnesota jumped in front on Lucchini’s second career goal with 7 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first period. The 28-year-old forward beat Mrazek 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 last year for Ottawa against Buffalo.
“Any goal you score in the NHL is special, and United Center against the Blackhawks is obviously pretty cool,” he said.
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 period, but he was denied by a sprawling Gustavsson on a breakaway.
Elsewhere, William Nylander had two goals and an assist and Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves as Toronto defeated visiting Dallas 5-4.
John Tavares added a goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs, who were three-for-three on the power play and won for the fourth time in five games. Auston Matthews added a goal and an assist, while Mitchell Marner also scored.
Evgenii Dadonov scored twice — one on a penalty — for the Stars, whose four-game winning streak ended. Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston also scored.
Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 26 shots.
In New York, Jonathan Quick made 18 saves and Jimmy Vesey scored twice and the Rangers beat visiting Tampa Bay 3-1.
Vesey scored his first goal early in the second period and added an empty-net tally shortly after Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli’s wrist-shot missed wide right with 1:21 remaining in regulation.
Brandon Hagel scored for the Lightning, who had 22 shots blocked, saw a three-game winning streak end and lost for the second time in 10 games (8-2-0).
Tampa Bay also lost Mikhail Sergachev to a lower-body injury in the second period when the defenseman collided with New York’s Alexis Lafreniere.
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