HAWKS TAME WILD POWER PLAY

By: Gary Zahara

Playing third fiddle in a huge sportsday with the Chicago Bears playing at 3:00 and the White Sox playing game two of the World Series at 7:00, the Chicago Blackhawks showed a sparse crowd of 11,368 they could play stingy defense like their football brothers on the lakefront, amd score late like the Pale Hose.

Rookie Mikael Holmqvist broke a three-all tie midway through the third period to push the Hawks over the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Sunday night.

Holmqvist put a rebound past Minnesota goalie Dwayne Roloson for his first goal of the season and third of his career.

Duncan Keith added a power-play goal, his first career goal, with 6:38 left in regulation as the Blackhawks snapped Minnesota's three-game winning streak.

"This was really a huge game for us,'' said Blackhawks assistant coach Denis Savard, who subbed for Trent Yawney behind the Chicago bench. "We got a great effort from everyone. There's no question that was our best game of the year.''

Chicago rookie Rene Bourque had a goal and two assists. Tyler Arnason also had a goal and an assist.

Marian Gaborik scored both Minnesota goals. He has two goals and four assists in three games after missing the Wild's first six contests with strained groin.

Roloson stopped 28 shots. Nikolai Khabibulin made 15 saves as the Hawks outshot the Wild 32-17.

The Blackhawks' special teams were great, killing eight of nine power plays while going 1-for-5 with the man-advantage.

Bourque opened the scoring at 9:32 of the first period. After skating from behind the net, he back-handed a shot between Roloson's right skate and the post that barely squirted over the goal line.

`We got the puck in deep behind their defense and outworked them down low,'' Bourque said. ``Our penalty killing did a great job and Khabi kept us in there and made some big saves when he had to.''

Gaborik tied it with a power-play goal from the left circle at the 10:58 mark. He converted a rebound of Brian Rolston's shot following a kick-save by Khabibulin.

Arnason gave Chicago a 2-1 lead at 2:36 of the second period when he shot the puck between Roloson's pads from the right side of the crease.

Gaborik tied it 2-2 during a 4-on-4 at 4:44 of the second. After cruising in alone down left wing, he ripped a shot past Khabibulin from 15 feet.

"I could not play (Gaborik) in the third because he re-injured is groin. I wanted keep him on the bench and he wanted to try. But when he went, I knew right away it was back," Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire said.

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