CHICAGO -- Bryan Bickell had an open look on a break in the third period, and shot the puck off the crossbar. He then tried the other side of the ice, and that worked out quite well for him and the Chicago Blackhawks. Bickell had a goal and two assists, and the Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals. Brandon Saad scored his first two goals of the post-season, and Chicago earned its sixth consecutive win despite stretches of lacklustre play in the second and third periods. Corey Crawford made 18 saves in another solid performance. "There were bits of that third where it wasnt looking good, but we just stuck with it," Bickell said. "Leave it to our D and Crawford to keep the puck out of the net. We need to be smarter defensively in positioning, but we stuck with it and got over the hump." Cody McCormick scored his second career playoff goal, but Minnesota missed another chance to steal home-ice advantage from the defending Stanley Cup champions. "We werent that far off," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "Even though, again, I know we can play better. We werent that far off. That game was hanging for us." The series opener was tied at 2 in the third period before Patrick Kane scored two of Chicagos final three goals in a 5-2 victory on Friday night. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Minnesota. Clayton Stoner and Erik Haula made nice passes to set up McCormicks first playoff goal in three years 2 minutes into the third, trimming Chicagos lead to 2-1. Crawford then batted a potential tying shot from Charlie Coyle over the crossbar. "I almost missed it, where it might have gone in," Crawford said. "Just enough to land on top." The Blackhawks eventually regained their composure and turned up the pressure again. Coming down the right side, Bickell shot the puck off the crossbar on a break with 4:39 to go. Given a second chance, the physical forward delivered. Bickell skated up the left side, got a pass from Marian Hossa and buried his shot into the upper right corner to extend Chicagos lead to 3-1 at 17:15. It was Bickells fifth goal of the playoffs. He also has three assists after he had nine goals and eight assists in last years playoffs. "Its that time of year. I enjoy it," said Bickell, who had just 15 points during a disappointing regular season. "This is a crucial time for this team. We need for me and this team to step up." Saad added an empty-net goal, and the Blackhawks improved to 16-2 in home playoff games over the last two years. They are 5-0 at the United Center in this post-season. "You always want to help produce and make plays and score goals, so that definitely felt good," Saad said. Chicago jumped out to a 2-0 lead for the second straight game. Jonathan Toews scored a rebound goal after goalie Ilya Bryzgalov stopped Hossa on a breakaway in the first, and Saad sent a shot over Bryzgalovs right shoulder right after a power play expired in the second. Haula had a great scoring opportunity on the right side of the net after Crawford lost track of the puck in the first. But Ben Smith got it back, and Haula put a drive off the side of the net. "Im disappointed that were here down 2-0, frustrated," Wild star Zach Parise said. "But we understand that we didnt play nearly well enough to win. I think thats what were upset about, not so much being down 2-0. Thats not fun, either, but the way we played wasnt good enough, and definitely not good enough to beat the Blackhawks." The Wild failed to convert on their only power play after going 0 for 3 with the man advantage in the opener. They went 0 for 17 on the power play when they were eliminated by the Blackhawks in five games in 2013. NOTES: Bryzgalov made 18 saves. ... Blackhawks F Andrew Shaw was out with a lower-body injury, but is expected to travel with the team to Minnesota. Coach Joel Quenneville said he likely will be able to play in Game 3. ... Blackhawks F Brandon Bollig was a healthy scratch after he played in every previous game this season. F Kris Versteeg was back after he was scratched the previous two games, and F Jeremy Morin made his playoff debut. ... Minnesota F Justin Fontaine had his first action since the Wilds 5-2 victory against Colorado in Game 6 of their first-round series. Stephane Veilleux was among the scratches after he played almost nine minutes in the series opener against Chicago. .J. -- Kevin Gilbride retired Thursday as offensive co-ordinator for the New York Giants. . He wants to seize that opportunity. The trouble is, Firus has had more bumps on the road to Sochi than most. Last year, Firus had the skate of a lifetime in the short program at the Canadian championships when he landed his first triple Axel in competition and finished third in a stacked field. . -- Oakland Athletics third baseman Scott Sizemore has undergone surgery on his left knee to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. . The 24-year-old Raley was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA for Chicago in his first two career starts after being called up from Iowa on Aug. 7. He was optioned to Iowa on Monday after losing 3-0 to Cincinnati in Chicago on Sunday. . Altidore strained his left hamstring in the Americans opener against Ghana on June 16 and didnt play in their next two games. "We dont know how much because we need to see how hes going, but hes available," U.The Chicago Blackhawks filled their hole at second-line centre by securing the services of a veteran at a cut-rate price. Numbers Game look at the Blackhawks signing Brad Richards. The Blackhawks Get: C Brad Richards. Richards, 34, has been a productive scorer throughout his career, but that productivity has waned as he approaches his mid-thirties. While he finished with a respectable 51 points in 82 games last season, that 0.62 points per game represented a career low and the second-lowest rate of his career was in 2012-2013, when he had 0.74 points per game. The downward trend is pretty clear at this point. He played 18:40 per game last season, his lowest average time on ice since his rookie season in 2000-2001. Given the massive contract that Richards had with the New York Rangers (nine years, $60-million), and the new recapture penalties that were imposed in the latest collective bargaining agreement, the Rangers had little choice but to buy out Richards, after paying him $33-million for the first three years of his deal. A long and productive career leaves Richards with few needs financially, so he went into his newfound free agency looking for a good fit and settled on joining the Blackhawks, a Stanley Cup contender who could use an upgrade at their second-line centre spot. In the past couple years, even as his point production has started to fall, Richards has had his zone starts tilted towards the offensive zone, with more than 65% of his shifts starting in the offensive zone. As a result, hes had strong possession stats, which may be enough to suggest that, evenn in decline, in a sheltered role, Richards would be an upgrade on Michal Handzus as Chicagos number two centre.dddddddddddd. In Chicago, there is a good opportunity for Richards to have a productive year. Any combination of the Blackhawks top scoring wingers includes Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad, so playing with two of them ought to give Richards a chance to have decent even-strength production. Whether Richards can match last seasons scoring totals, however, probably will have some dependence on power play production and, over the past couple seasons, Richards has really struggled to produce with the man advantage. Furthermore, Richards presence likely means that top Blackhawks prospect Teuvo Teravainen wont be starting the season in Chicago and that may be fine for his overall development, but if Teravainen shows that hes ready, it would be easy enough to see Richards bumped down the depth chart, as has happened from time to time with the Rangers over the past couple seasons. There is a benefit to the contract that Richards signed with Chicago -- a one-year, $2-million deal -- in that his declining production in New York was frequently contrasted with how much money the Rangers had tied up to get him. Now, Richards is a bargain signing and if he gives Chicago decent second-line production, he would bring a positive return on investment. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '
