ST. PAUL Adidas Conor Timmins Jersey , Minn. (AP) — with a four-day break on the schedule following two flat performances.The spark came midway through this matchup with division rival Chicago, with a big push by Jason Zucker.Ryan Suter tied the game with 23 seconds left in the third period and Zucker scored in overtime, rallying the Wild past the Blackhawks 4-3 on Thursday night.Zucker had two goals and an assist, including a breakaway backhander 3:25 into the extra period. Zach Parise sent a long pass across the red line to a streaking Zucker, whose shot zipped between Cam Ward’s pads to give the Wild (1-1-1) their first win of the season.“I know the way I can play, and tonight was much more like it. I think everybody would’ve said the same thing about the first two games. We all wanted to step up and play well,” Zucker said. “That’s what true leadership is, just guys going out and showing it on the ice.”Suter’s takeaway gave the Wild possession on that play, after he batted in a backhander off a short-handed rebound of Parise’s shot to make it 3-3. The 14-year veteran defenseman, coming off a career-threatening ankle injury in April, had two assists.“The first one’s always the toughest,” Suter said, adding: “It was good to find a way to win. It wasn’t pretty, but it doesn’t really matter.”Particularly his tying goal that emerged from a mass of bodies in front of the net.“When they were banging it on the post, I didn’t see Suter right there on the top of the crease,” Ward said. “That’s desperation on their part, and good on them.”Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist for the Blackhawks, including a go-ahead score on a power play early in the third period Adidas Ian Cole Jersey , but Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for the Wild including a thumping denial with his pad of Patrick Kane’s close-range try in overtime.Jonathan Toews kept up his season-opening surge with two assists for the Blackahwks. He set up DeBrincat’s first score during a 4-on-4 with a hard stop on a rush to slide the puck across the slot. Then he fed rookie Dominik Kahun for his first NHL goal less than three minutes later.Patrick Kane assisted on DeBrincat’s second score, giving the Toews-Kane-DeBrincat trio a whopping 22 points in four games. Toews has a team-leading five goals and three assists for the Blackhawks (2-0-2), who have 18 goals in four games after missing the playoffs last spring for the first time in 10 years.Still, on a power play with 1:17 remaining in the third period, they couldn’t help but be frustrated with the outcome.“We should’ve been able to put it away,” DeBrincat said. “We should’ve been able to keep it in their zone and maybe even get a few scoring chances.”Ward, keeping the net warm for the expected return next week of Corey Crawford from a concussion that cut short his 2017-18 season, made a season-high 42 saves for the Blackhawks. Each of their four games have been decided in overtime.“They went to the net hard,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said, “but he stood his ground and played well.”Eric Staal scored for Minnesota in the second period, and Zucker tied it with 2.8 seconds left before the second intermission by snagging Staal’s off-target pass and knocking it past Ward.“It gives you a better vibe, confidence,” Staal said. “It wasn’t the be-all, end-all, but it’s big to get that first win.”NOTES: The 20-year-old DeBrincat, playing on the Toews-anchored first line with Kahun, has 59 points in 86 career games. … The Wild are 12-4-1 in their last 17 games against the Blackhawks. … RW J.T. Brown made his debut with the Wild after being scratched the first two games. He replaced Matt Hendricks on the fourth line. … The Wild are 0 for 7 on the power play this season. … LW Alexandre Fortin, who played on the third line for the Blackhawks with Chris Kunitz and Artem Anisimov, made his NHL debut. He’s already the fourth Blackhawks player to do so this season. One of them is Luke Johnson Adidas Philipp Grubauer Jersey , who was scratched to make room for Fortin. … This was Zucker’s second career overtime goal.UP NEXTBlackhawks: Host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.Wild: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter kept scoring goals for his new team. Curtis McElhinney kept up his mastery of the Edmonton Oilers.They pushed the Carolina Hurricanes closer to playoff position.Niederreiter scored two goals, McElhinney stopped the final 40 shots he faced, and the Hurricanes beat the Oilers 3-1 on Friday night.“Every single game matters a lot,” Niederreiter said, “so we’ve got to make sure we even win the close ones.”Lucas Wallmark also scored and Sebastian Aho had two assists for the Hurricanes, who have won 15 of 21 since Dec. 31 for the best record in the NHL in that span. Carolina, which has not made the postseason in a decade, moved a point behind idle Pittsburgh for the final wild-card playoff spot in the East.“I think we’re just getting critical plays at critical times right now,” McElhinney said. “We know what the situation is, and it’s going to take a lot for us to get into the playoffs, but the guys have been rolling since before the break, and we came out of it pretty hot. So it’s just a matter of gas pedal to the floor.”Leon Draisaitl scored his team-leading 34th goal on the Oilers’ first shot, and Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves while losing his sixth straight decision. Edmonton is 1-7-2 in its last 10 and was held to two or fewer goals in six of those games, all regulation losses.“We’re generating chances. We’re making plays,” captain Connor McDavid said. “We’re just not finding a way to score.”The well-traveled McElhinney improved to 7-0-0 against Edmonton — his best career record against any opponent.With the Hurricanes largely unable to dictate play — Edmonton was outshooting them 29-14 after two periods — he single-handedly kept them in this one, with his best saves coming on a point-blank attempt by Colby Cave with about 13 1/2 minutes left and a stop on McDavid with about 5 minutes remaining to keep it a one-goal game.Niederreiter then gave Carolina a two-goal lead with 3:37 left by taking a feed from Aho and slipping a knuckler past Koskinen. Since he was acquired from Minnesota on Jan. 17, he has eight goals in 12 games after scoring nine in 46 games with the Wild.“At the end of the day, you want to be the best player you can be Adidas Cale Makar Jersey , and sometimes a change helps,” Niederreiter said. “Sometimes it doesn’t, and in my case, it definitely helped a lot.”It was a successful start to what could be a pivotal stretch for the Hurricanes. They played themselves back into the playoff conversation while polishing off the club’s best five-game road trip since 1998, and of their next seven opponents, six began Friday night’s games behind them in the standings.Defense was optional early in this one, with the teams combining for three goals in the first 2 minutes, 16 seconds of the game. Goals from Niederreiter and Wallmark sandwiched Draisaitl’s slick goal on a give-and-go, before things tightened up the rest of the way.“They get the second one, and that’s the way the game goes the rest of the night,” McDavid said. “It’s funny how it works sometimes.”NOTES: Draisaitl and McDavid have combined to score 65 of the Oilers’ 158 goals. … Aho, who assisted on both of Neiderreiter’s goals, has a career-high 66 points…. Tempers flared late in the second when Niederreiter, after being hit by Kris Russell, took a run at Oscar Klefbom that sparked a brief melee. Niederreiter received a 2-minute boarding penalty.UP NEXTOilers: Complete a three-game road trip Saturday night by visiting the New York Islanders.Hurricanes: Wrap up a back-to-back set of home games Saturday night against Dallas.