CHICAGO — The Wild kept their flickering hopes of picking up a Central Division title alive.
They barely avoided getting upset by the Blackhawks, rallying 4-2 on Monday in front of 15,268 at United Center to move only two points back of Dallas and Colorado for first place.
Still, the Wild have work to do to climb out of third.
Dallas owns the tiebreaker against them, and Colorado has one game at-hand.
But a pair of third-period goals from Marcus Johansson made a way out of third still possible.
After getting outplayed most of the night and trailing 2-1, the Wild flipped the script on an upset when Johansson scored a franchise-record 14th shorthanded goal with 6 minutes left before polishing off the comeback with 3:13 to go when he buried a Matt Boldy pass behind Chicago goalie Alex Stalock.
Gustav Nyquist added an empty-netter with 1:01 remaining.
Before then, the Wild were turning in an uncharacteristic performance from an uncharacteristic lineup.
They left four of their best players in Minnesota, with Kirill Kaprizov, his linemate Mats Zuccarello as well as captain Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin resting.
Without those tone-setters, the Wild were dominated by the Blackhawks for some of the first period and all of the second.
Chicago began its takeover after Matt Boldy opened the scoring 12 minutes, 32 seconds into the first period, stuffing his own rebound around Stalock for his 31st goal of the season.
With only 1:49 left in the period, Joey Anderson eluded the Wild defense to poke in a loose puck in the crease.
That was only a preview of what was to come.
The Blackhawks peppered goaltender Filip Gustavsson with shots in the second, putting 22 pucks on net compared to a measly five for the Wild. They capitalized on a Wild turnover seconds before their second goal: Gustavsson blocked a Buddy Robinson shot but Anders Bjork directed in the rebound at 2:23.
But giveaways weren't the only issue.
The Wild's posture was shaky, even on a line change.
They received their first of two power plays early in the third, but botched that chance, too. The best look actually came from Chicago, with Jason Dickinson picking off a pass to skate in for a shorthanded breakaway that Gustavsson denied.
Gustavsson ended up with 39 saves, while Stalock had just 18.
The Blackhawks also had only one power play, their chance coming after they scored on the delayed call.
Captain Jonathan Toews redirected the puck in front, but the goal was called back after the officials determined the Wild had possession before Toews' shot.
Chicago blanked on the ensuing 5-on-4 opportunity and went 0-for-2 overall. That second power play came after Marcus Foligno was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a fight with Andreas Englund.
In his absence, the Wild clapped back and snagged a ninth straight victory against the Blackhawks.
Johansson's first goal came during the power play Chicago went on after Foligno was sent off.
As for Brock Faber, who was making his NHL debut after leaving the Gophers to sign a three-year, entry-level contract with the Wild, he led the Wild in ice time at 21:49 and registered one shot. His six blocked shots were also the most on the team.
