Spurgeon breaks 33-game scoreless streak with two goals, Minnesota beats Chicago 3-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jared Spurgeon ended a 33-game scoring drought with two of Minnesota’s three second-period goals and the Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Friday.

Marco Rossi also scored for Minnesota and Marc-Andre Fleury, who turned 40 on Thursday, made 20 saves to improve to 5-0-1.

The Wild is 13-0-1 against the Blackhawks dating back to Feb. 4, 2020.

Spurgeon’s long wrist shot from just inside the blue line handcuffed Petr Mrazek late in the second period for a 3-2 lead. On his 35th birthday, Spurgeon’s goals were his first since April 8, 2023, and his eighth career multigoal game.

Ryan Donato scored twice and Mrazek stopped 27 shots for Chicago, tied with Nashville for the fewest points in the NHL at 18.

Blackhawks: Chicago has scored first 13 times this season. Only four teams have opened the scoring more: Minnesota (15), Anaheim (14), Carolina (14) and Tampa Bay (14).

Wild: Fifteen times in the team’s 23 games, Wild goalies have allowed two-or-fewer goals, best in the NHL. Entering the game, Minnesota led the NHL with a 2.34 GAA and .919 save percentage.

Rossi and Spurgeon scored 17 seconds apart midway through the second period — Minnesota’s fastest two goals since scoring 15 seconds apart Dec. 4, 2022 — to tie the game 2-2. Rossi completed a pretty passing play with Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson before a Spurgeon shot deflected off a defender’s skate in the crease.

Kaprizov played his 300th career game. He’s scored 174 goals and recorded 192 assists for 366 career points. The only active players with more points through 300 games are Sidney Crosby (407), Connor McDavid (394), Alex Ovechkin (384) and Evgeni Malkin (371). Only Ovechkin (204) and Auston Matthews (176) have more goals.

The Blackhawks host Columbus on Sunday. Minnesota is home against Nashville on Saturday.

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) saves the puck while Chicago Blackhawks center Philipp Kurashev (23) and Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian (24) battle near the net during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Chicago Blackhawks center Ryan Donato, front left, and left wing Tyler Bertuzzi (59) celebrate after their goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber (7) and Chicago Blackhawks left wing Tyler Bertuzzi (59) battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek (14) attempts to score on Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek (34) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov (97) pivots with the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon, front right, is congratulated at the bench after scoring during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Matt Eberflus’ firing by the Chicago Bears on Friday after the botched finish in a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions only slightly impacts the team’s most important goal this season.

Now at 4-8, this Bears season has been all about developing quarterback Caleb Williams as much as possible. Losing their head coach and defensive play caller, with a 14-32 career record, carries less significance for Williams.

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has been key in Williams’ improvement and now Brown is the interim head coach besides being the play caller.

It has been apparent since Brown took over as offensive coordinator for the fired Shane Waldron that they had a coach with a more fiery personality than Eberflus.

“I’m a pretty direct person,” Brown said last week about being the Chicago OC.

Brown has never been a head coach but his coaching style was obvious when he took over as coordinator after Waldron’s firing. He’ll try to bring a high-energy coaching style to the full team in much the way he did with Williams.

“So I think that can come off different ways to different people, but he (Williams) is not soft, which I appreciate,” Brown said. “Me and soft people sometimes don’t always see eye to eye, get along.”

In the three games since Brown took over as offensive coordinator, Williams has completed 75 of 117 for 827 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 99.2. Prior to Brown’s hiring, Williams had a passer rating of 81.0 with nine TD passes and five interception.

The 99.2 passer rating came against tougher NFC North opponents.

What Brown needs to work on with Williams and the whole team is obvious after they’ve lost three heartbreakers to NFC North teams and had rallies come up short in each game.

“We’ve been in many of these games where we were down and, you know, came back from 16, 10, you know, all these different scores,” Williams said. “And so, you know, we have belief in ourselves and to be able to go out there and do that.”

Now Brown needs to bring better finishes out of them than they had under Eberflus.

The passing attack. Even with five more sacks and an NFL high of 49 for Williams this year, they managed to upgrade their attack in the second half against Detroit for three touchdown passes. Williams set an NFL rookie record for consecutive passes without an interception, breaking Kyler Murray’s mark of 211. He broke it on a 31-yard TD pass to Keenan Allen in the third quarter. Williams’ mark is now at 232 straight passes without an interception. His five TD passes in two weeks brought his season total to 14, a Bears rookie record.

The run defense. Detroit ran for 144 of its 197 in the first half to pile up its big lead. The Bears have struggled all year stopping the run, but especially after losing defensive tackle Andrew Billings for the year to a torn pectoral muscle in Week 8. They are 30th in yards allowed per rush heading into the weekend’s games.

Keenan Allen. The veteran wide receiver’s five catches for 73 and two TDs upped his total since Brown took over play calling to 200 yards on 18 receptions. He has 44 catches for 441 yards and five TDs on the year.

D’Andre Swift ran for just 39 yards on 11 carries as his yards per attempt dropped below 4.0 for the year.

Right tackle Darnell Wright went out in the second half with a knee injury while Roschon Johnson went out with what was believed to be a concussion.

Williams also suffered a bruised left knee on a hit by Detroit linebacker Jack Campbell but did not need to leave the game.

3 — Eberflus’ Bears teams won three road games and none of them came this season. The last Bears road win came Nov. 27, 2023, over the Minnesota Vikings. They did win in London this year but were designated the home team on that day.

Brown and defensive coordinator Eric Washington will have more than a week to work at their game plan because the Bears are off until their game on Dec. 8 against San Francisco.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Thomas Brown is seen before an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)