Blackhawks 4, Wild 2: Bryan Bickell scored a pair of third-period goals as visiting Chicago avoiding losing back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 1-2.

Patrick Kane scored one goal and set up two others while Patrick Sharp also tallied as the Blackhawks won for the fourth time in six games. Brad Richards collected three assists and Corey Crawford turned aside a season-high 42 shots to improve to 6-3-2 lifetime against Minnesota.

Jason Pominville recorded a goal and an assist while Jason Zucker netted his third tally in two games for the Wild, who have dropped nine of their last 11 (2-5-4). Niklas Backstrom made 16 saves in losing his fourth straight start (0-2-2).

Sharp opened the scoring five minutes into the contest, settling a bouncing puck on the left side before cutting to the net and tucking it past Backstrom. Chicago doubled the lead 11 minutes later as Richards received a feed from captain Jonathan Toews and sent a return pass to Kane, who buried it from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.

Zucker cut the deficit in half 63 seconds into the middle period, ripping a one-timer from the slot past Crawford, but the Wild were unable to get the equalizer despite a 19-5 shot advantage in the session. Bickell stepped into a drop pass from Kane and beat Backstrom six minutes into the third, but Pominville's blast during a 5-on-3 with 5:07 remaining drew Minnesota within 3-2 before Bickell scored into an empty net.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Wild observed a moment of silence and paid a video tribute to J.P. Parise, who passed away after a year-long battle with lung cancer. Parise, the father of Wild leading scorer Zach Parise, played nine seasons for the Minnesota North Stars. ... Kane joined Denis Savard as the only Chicago players to score 20 goals in each of their first eight seasons and is two shy of 200 for his career. ... Wild G Darcy Kuemper (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Thursday while D Marco Scandella (upper body) sat out with an injury sustained in Tuesday's game versus San Jose. Minnesota recalled C Jordan Schroeder, D Jonathon Blum and G John Curry from Iowa of the American Hockey League