The "Flying Finns" might be on murals around the X by the time this postseason ends.
After 40 minutes of the Wild and Chicago Blackhawks making the goal lights irrelevant and putting the shot counters to sleep, Finnish pals Erik Haula and Mikael Granlund scored back-to-back dazzling goals Tuesday night to lift the Wild right back into its second-round series with the defending champs.
Hours after coach Mike Yeo said it was time the Wild got over the "mental hurdle" of facing the Chicago Blackhawks, Haula and Granlund scored 2 minutes, 37 seconds apart early in a four-goal third period as the Wild soared to a 4-0 victory at Xcel Energy Center.
"You see how important they are for our team, but how much better they're getting even in this postseason," Zach Parise said of the young Finns. "They've been so good for us at such big times of the games."
Granlund later added an empty-netter, Parise scored a power-play goal and had an assist, Jason Pominville had two assists and Ilya Bryzgalov made 19 saves for his fourth career playoff shutout and first since May 7, 2006. The Wild trails the best-of-seven series two games to one with a critical Game 4 Friday night at the X.
"No one said it was going to be easy. They are a tough team," Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford said. "They play hard and they showed us they have some skill."
After a two-period game of chess, the Wild finally broke through a suffocating Blackhawks trap with some rare-seen speed in the game.
Haula, the Wild's best forward in the series, scored his second goal of the playoffs after starting a rush out of nothing. Haula passed across the neutral zone to the far boards, then turned on his jets to catch the Blackhawks snoozing. Justin Fontaine made an exquisite foot-high saucer pass beyond defenseman Michal Rozsival, one that landed on Haula's stick for a tap-in goal after Haula raced past Patrick Kane.