ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Last year, the Chicago Blackhawks gave the Minnesota Wild a quick exit from the playoffs. This year, the Wild are giving the defending Stanley Cup champions all they can handle. Jason Pominville and Matt Cooke scored first-period goals and Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Thursday night. After losing a five-game series in the first round of last years playoffs, the Wild have won three of four against the Blackhawks this season. "I know we get geared up to play that team," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "I think the fact that weve played them as much as we have, I think our guys are confident going into the game knowing we can play with them. "Obviously theyre such a great team, and we have so much respect for them, we havent taken any nights off against that hockey team." Kuemper was making his sixth consecutive start as Minnesotas top two goalies, Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom, have been sidelined with health problems. The Wild are 5-3 with rookie in the net this season. "Im pretty confident right now," Kuemper said. "Obviously I just want to go in there and every time I get a chance, help the team win. And when youre getting wins like this, obviously its easy to keep rolling and come to the rink every day with a smile." Patrick Kane spoiled Kuempers shutout bid when he scored his 24th goal of the season with 31.2 seconds left to bring the Blackhawks to within one. But Kuemper stopped one final flurry in the last 10 seconds and Zach Parise cleared the puck from Minnesotas zone to run out the clock. Pominville opened the scoring at 8:08 of the first period. Dany Heatley carried the puck across the Chicago blue line and passed to Mikael Granlund near the goal mouth. Granlund spun back around and slid the puck across the slot, where Pominville was waiting to send it in the open net for his 20th of the season. "Hes the type of player that doesnt really need to know Im there," Pominville said of Granlund. "He just has a feel for it." The Blackhawks killed off a 5-on-3 power play, but Minnesota doubled its lead late in the first period. Justin Fontaine won a race to a loose puck and tipped it to Cooke, who slipped it past Antti Raanta from the left faceoff circle. "They made a decent play," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "After the big kill that was a deflating goal, but there was still a lot of hockey left." Raanta, who entered the game with a 12-1-3 record this season, was upset with himself after the game for putting his team in a 2-0 hole early. "Their first goal was pretty nice, tic-tac-toe, but the second one was too easy," Raanta said. "When they get two goals in the first period youre behind all the time. Its much harder to play because Minnesota was defensively so good. Every goal counts and today there was one easy goal so thats not a good thing." Kuemper got a little help from his defence to keep it 2-0 late in the second. During a Minnesota power play, Pominville tripped at the Chicago blue line and Marian Hossa pounced for a short-handed breakaway. But defenceman Ryan Suter caught up to Hossa just in time to prevent him from getting a clean shot. Kanes goal prevented them from being shut out for the first time in 120 games, but the Blackhawks lost in regulation for only the second time since Dec. 15. "Theyre the best team in the league and ... theyre going to see every teams best game. Its pretty impressive what theyre doing, even this year," said Parise, who returned to the lineup after missing 14 games with a broken left foot. "For whatever reason, our game elevates when we play them. And I thought ... we did a good job of containing their top players. Other than Kane getting that one at the end, we did a pretty good job of neutralizing them." Notes: Blackhawks D Duncan Keith missed his first game of the season Thursday. He was a pregame scratch due to illness. ... Blackhawks senior adviser Scotty Bowman is scheduled to have right knee replacement surgery Friday in Tampa, Fla. The 13-time Stanley Cup champion has a residence about an hour from Tampa. ... Kuempers mask broke during the second period, and he used Backstroms mask for about 10 minutes while it was being fixed. Ultra Boost Schweiz . Crawford hit his slam off Pirates starter Edinson Volquez to give San Francisco a four run lead in the fourth and they never looked back. Brandon Belt had three runs batted in as well. Bumgarner pitched all nine innings and allowed just four hits. Adidas Ultra Boost Schweiz . Cellino was ordered by a judge to pay a 600,000 euro ($800,000) fine for evading import taxes on a yacht he purchased in the United States and brought to Italy, the ANSA news agency reported. http://www.nmdschweizkaufen.ch/. -- The Toronto Maple Leafs are tightening the race for second place in the Atlantic Division. Adidas Tubular Schweiz . According to a report from ESPN, sources said Manuels college coach Jimbo Fisher told teams he didnt think Manuel had the tools to be an NFL starter. Adidas Eqt Damen Sale . Tyutin has missed the last nine games with an ankle injury which occurred while playing for Russia at the Olympics. The top-two defenceman has four goals and 20 assists, 30 penalty minutes and a plus-6 rating in 53 games with Columbus this season.Roman Reigns and Triple H engaged in an epic brawl on Monday Night Raw ahead of their main-event match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Sundays WrestleMania. Reigns - who will be aiming to claim sports entertainments richest prize for the third time when he battles Triple H in Texas this weekend - was jumped backstage by the champion and The Dudley Boyz when WWEs flagship show hit Brooklyn, New York.However, as Triple H bragged about how he would defeat Reigns, The Big Dog attacked his opponent to begin an almighty fight, which culminated in Reigns leaping out of the ring and onto The Game as a horde of Superstars tried to intervene.CLICK HERE TO ORDER WRESTLEMANIA 32 WRESTLEMANIA 32 Live on Sky Sports Box OfficeMidnight, Sunday Elsewhere, Shane McMahon elbow-dropped The Undertaker through the announce desk to gain the upper-hand prior to their high-stakes Mania match, with McMahon to assume control of Raw if he wins and The Undertaker banned from competing at another WrestleMania if he loses.Chris Jericho and AJ Styles will also go one-on-one at WrestleMania after the former accepted the latters challenge - but only after Styles distraction caused the Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla to lose his singles encounter with Zack Ryder.Ryder will compete in a seven-man match for Kevin Owens Intercontinental Championship at Mania, with the remaining six competitors engaging in a tag-team tussle on Raw as Ryder battled Jericho. Dolph Ziggler scraps with The Miz during a tag match Owens, The Miz and Stardust took on Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Sin Cara, with Zayns squad emerging victorious when he cracked Owens with a Helluva Kick after the Intercontinental Champion was abandoned by his partners.Elsewhere, Riic Flairs distraction allowed Charlotte to beat Becky Lynch with Natural Selection; Kalisto bested Konnor with Salida del Sol; and Kofi Kingston countered Alberto Del Rios Cross Armbreaker to pin the Mexican with a roll-up.dddddddddddd Plus, Big Show and Kane choke-slammed each member of the Social Outcasts - Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas and Adam Rose - before they and a host of other grapplers compete in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania.Finally, Dean Ambrose displayed the array of weapons he plans to use against Brock Lesnar during the pairs No Holds Barred Match on Sunday night - which included Terry Funks chainsaw and Mick Foleys baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.CLICK HERE TO ORDER WRESTLEMANIA 32WrestleMania 32 booking detailsWrestleMania 32 will be shown on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) and Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) at midnight on Sunday, April 3 (Monday morning)WrestleMania 32 will be repeated on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) but NOT Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) between 10am, Monday, April 4 and 10pm, Tuesday, April 5.Repeat showings will last for four hours, with the final showing STARTING at 10pm on Tuesday, April 5.The event is priced at £19.95 for UK customers, €24.95 for viewers in the Republic of Ireland.Viewers can call 03442 410 888 to book WrestleMania 32. (There may be an additional charge for telephone bookings).You can also book WrestleMania 32 online by visiting this link: https://my.sky.com/orderboxoffice/Viewers can also book using their Sky TV remote. (Only bookings via Sky TV remote are recordable using Sky Plus).Sky TV residential customers only. Commercial customers contact Sky for price and to order. Sky Box Office terms apply. Cable customers should contact their local cable operator.You will also be able to follow a live blog of WrestleMania 32 on Sky Sports digital platforms. Also See: Order WrestleMania 32 WWE features WWE videos WWE news ' ' '