Despite outshooting Chicago once again (37-25), the Wild could not put more pucks into the back of the net as the Blackhawks finished the sweep, winning 4-3 in game four and advancing to their third straight western conference finals.
Brent Seabrook got the first goal of the game, the lone goal of the first period 10:23 into the game, assisted by Bryan Bickell and Johnny Oduya. In the second a hooking call on Nino Niederreiter gave the Blackhawks their first power play of the game and Andrew Shaw took advantage with his first goal of the postseason, assisted by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Just over three minutes later Erik Haula answered with a goal to pull the Wild back within one at 2-1, assisted by Matt Cooke and Matt Dumba.
In the third, Chicago scored again as Kane scored his seventh postseason goal, assisted by Bickell and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Minnesota pulled Devan Dubnyk fairly early, and the Blackhawks took advantage as Marian Hossa scored his first postseason goal on the empty net to make it 4-1 as Toews picked up the assist. Jason Pomenville scored on a power play less than a minute later, and less than a minute after that Niederreiter scored to pull Minnesota within one at 4-3 but they could not tie it up as their season came to an end.
Dubnyk struggled once again, allowing three goals on 24 shots. Corey Crawford on the other hand, was brilliant, allowing three goals but against 37 shots for a save percentage of .919. Fatigue was part of why Dubnyk struggled so much in this series, considering he started 39 straight regular season games for the Wild and then started every playoff game.
Toews and Bickell each had two assists. Kane had a goal and an assist. The Blackhawks will await the winner of the Anaheim vs. Calgary series, and will have plenty of time to rest. Hopefully for their sake they will be rested, not rusty with a potentially long layoff (for the playoffs at least). The worst thing for a team that is just hitting their stride is to have a layoff, so keeping their edge will be a challenge going forward for Chicago. Chicago becomes the third team to make three straight appearances in the western finals since the lockout, joining the Kings from 2012-2014 and the Red Wings from 2007-2009.