Demitra's shootout strike lifts Wild over Hawks

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pavol Demitra scored the only goal of the shootout as the Minnesota Wild continued their domination of the Chicago Blackhawks with a 4-3 win on Sunday.

The Wild won its sixth straight game over the Hawks including three this season, with two of those latest wins coming in shootouts and the other in overtime.

Minnesota's (24-19-3) victory was a season-high third consecutive on the road to move into sole possession of third place in the tight Northwest Division standings, as the Wild improved to 6-15-1 on their travels overall.

Chicago (17-22-5) has lost six straight games to slip further behind a playoff spot in the Western Conference standings.

Demitra scored on the Wild's first attempt in the shootout on Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and Minnesota goalie Manny Fernandez stopped all three Chicago shooters, including Denis Arkhipov in the final round, to end the game.

Arkhipov thought he had scored, but a video review showed that the puck had failed to cross the line after Fernandez had partially stopped the shot.

After a scoreless first period, Chicago scored twice in the opening minute of the second period to take a 2-0 lead.

Tuomo Ruutu scored 30 seconds into the frame and Martin Havlat added another goal 29 seconds later to put the Hawks comfortably ahead.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard got one goal back for the Wild at 1:36, but the Hawks's two-goal lead was restored by Cameron Barker on the powerplay at 11:55, his first NHL goal.

Marian Gaborik scored before the end of the second period for the Wild and Wes Waltz tied the game at 7:55 of the third period, setting up a scoreless overtime and the shootout.

Fernandez was brilliant in goal for the Wild as Chicago out-shot Minnesota 41-27, including 23-9 in the second period and 6-1 in the overtime.

Bouchard added an assist to his goal for the Wild while Radim Vrbata had two assists for Chicago.

The game was the only one scheduled in the NHL on Sunday.