ST. Roy Hibbert Authentic Jersey . PAUL, Minn. -- Last year, the Chicago Blackhawks gave the Minnesota Wild a quick exit from the playoffs. This year, the Wild are giving the defending Stanley Cup champions all they can handle. Jason Pominville and Matt Cooke scored first-period goals and Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Thursday night. After losing a five-game series in the first round of last years playoffs, the Wild have won three of four against the Blackhawks this season. "I know we get geared up to play that team," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "I think the fact that weve played them as much as we have, I think our guys are confident going into the game knowing we can play with them. "Obviously theyre such a great team, and we have so much respect for them, we havent taken any nights off against that hockey team." Kuemper was making his sixth consecutive start as Minnesotas top two goalies, Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom, have been sidelined with health problems. The Wild are 5-3 with rookie in the net this season. "Im pretty confident right now," Kuemper said. "Obviously I just want to go in there and every time I get a chance, help the team win. And when youre getting wins like this, obviously its easy to keep rolling and come to the rink every day with a smile." Patrick Kane spoiled Kuempers shutout bid when he scored his 24th goal of the season with 31.2 seconds left to bring the Blackhawks to within one. But Kuemper stopped one final flurry in the last 10 seconds and Zach Parise cleared the puck from Minnesotas zone to run out the clock. Pominville opened the scoring at 8:08 of the first period. Dany Heatley carried the puck across the Chicago blue line and passed to Mikael Granlund near the goal mouth. Granlund spun back around and slid the puck across the slot, where Pominville was waiting to send it in the open net for his 20th of the season. "Hes the type of player that doesnt really need to know Im there," Pominville said of Granlund. "He just has a feel for it." The Blackhawks killed off a 5-on-3 power play, but Minnesota doubled its lead late in the first period. Justin Fontaine won a race to a loose puck and tipped it to Cooke, who slipped it past Antti Raanta from the left faceoff circle. "They made a decent play," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "After the big kill that was a deflating goal, but there was still a lot of hockey left." Raanta, who entered the game with a 12-1-3 record this season, was upset with himself after the game for putting his team in a 2-0 hole early. "Their first goal was pretty nice, tic-tac-toe, but the second one was too easy," Raanta said. "When they get two goals in the first period youre behind all the time. Its much harder to play because Minnesota was defensively so good. Every goal counts and today there was one easy goal so thats not a good thing." Kuemper got a little help from his defence to keep it 2-0 late in the second. During a Minnesota power play, Pominville tripped at the Chicago blue line and Marian Hossa pounced for a short-handed breakaway. But defenceman Ryan Suter caught up to Hossa just in time to prevent him from getting a clean shot. Kanes goal prevented them from being shut out for the first time in 120 games, but the Blackhawks lost in regulation for only the second time since Dec. 15. "Theyre the best team in the league and ... theyre going to see every teams best game. Its pretty impressive what theyre doing, even this year," said Parise, who returned to the lineup after missing 14 games with a broken left foot. "For whatever reason, our game elevates when we play them. And I thought ... we did a good job of containing their top players. Other than Kane getting that one at the end, we did a pretty good job of neutralizing them." Notes: Blackhawks D Duncan Keith missed his first game of the season Thursday. He was a pregame scratch due to illness. ... Blackhawks senior adviser Scotty Bowman is scheduled to have right knee replacement surgery Friday in Tampa, Fla. The 13-time Stanley Cup champion has a residence about an hour from Tampa. ... Kuempers mask broke during the second period, and he used Backstroms mask for about 10 minutes while it was being fixed. Myles Turner Jersey .C. - Jaedon Descheneau scored a hat trick as the Kootenay Ice beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 to take a 3-1 lead in their Western Hockey League playoff series Thursday. Chase Budinger Jersey . Louis Blues. The Capitals did themselves no favors with a recent 0-3-2 skid that was finally snapped with Saturdays 4-3 shootout victory over the New York Islanders.Arcadia, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Shared Belief, 2013 champion 2-year-old, is doing fine as he nears his debut as a 4-year-old in the San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita Feb. 7. Trained and co-owned by Jerry Hollendorfer, Shared Belief is continuing his preparations at Golden Gate Fields. The gelding is a finalist for the Eclipse Award as 2014 champion 3-year-old along with Bayern and California Chrome. Hes doing good; hes training real well, Hollendorfer said. Hes very happy. I got a report on him this morning from Golden Gate that he was especially good today. Tuesday of this week, Shhared Belief worked five furlongs in 1:00. Donald Sloan Jersey. 80. The gelding has won eight of nine career starts for $2,032,200. He closed his 2014 campaign with a hard fought victory in Santa Anitas Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26. Shared Belief finished fourth in the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 behind Bayern. He posted wins in 2014 in the Los Alamitos Derby, Pacific Classic and Awesome Again Stakes. A foot injury prevented the gelding from competing in the Triple Crown races. Shared Belief began 2014 with an allowance victory at Golden Gate Fields on May 26. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
