Short day for Wild goalie Dubnyk

It's not every day you see a starting goaltender get benched less than five minutes into a game.

But that's exactly what happened after Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin beat Devan Dubnyk on the Blackhawks' first 2 shots Sunday in a 4-2 victory over the Wild.

"You follow a goalie for 68 games, you sort of know his traits and his trends," Minnesota coach Brue Boudreau said. "He didn't look like he was following the puck well for want of a better term."

Dubnyk, who has a .931 save percentage overall, has stopped just 67 of 75 shots (.893) in three appearances against the Hawks and sports an unsightly 3.89 goals-against average against them.

Corey Crawford wouldn't admit a team can get into a goalie's head, saying: "I don't think so. There's maybe seasons where one team just for some reason has your number. … Every game's different, right? It's like anything. You go winning streak, losing streak. It just goes that way sometimes."

Dubnyk, of course, is a big reason why Minnesota leads the Central Division with a 43-18-6 record. The decision to pull him certainly was a shock for many.

"He's had a tremendous career since he's been there," Kane said. "So it was a little surprising, for sure."

Closing in:

Patrick Kane is one of 6-10 players in contention for the Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer), and he certainly helped his cause with a 2-point effort Sunday. Kane, who won the award last season, has 73 points and is just 2 behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid.

Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Evegni Malkin and San Jose's Brent Burns and Boston's Brad Marchand also all have 70 or more points.

"You have an eye on it," Kane said. "I don't know if you're at the point where you're checking it every day yet. … I know there's a lot of guys that are right around pretty much the same number. … Not thinking about it too much right now."

Hayden signs:

The Hawks came to terms with 22-year-old forward John Hayden on a two-year contract that runs through next season. Hayden, taken in the third round by the Hawks in 2013, just completed his senior season at Yale and posted career highs in goals (21) and assists (13).

"He's a hardworking type of guy, one for those guys along the wall, in front of the net, has some physicality to his game, greasiness at the net," coach Joel Quenneville said of the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder. "So looking forward to seeing how he handles it up here and how he fits in. He gives us some size and aggressiveness."

Darling to return:

Joel Quenneville said goalie Scott Darling will travel on the Blackhawks' three-game road trip that begins Tuesday in Montreal. Darling, injured on March 3 during a morning skate, was expected to miss three weeks with an upper-body injury, but it appears he could be ready to return to see game action this week.

To make room for Darling, the Hawks reassigned Jeff Glass to Rockford.

With Devan Dubnyk getting pulled after allowing 2 goals on 2 shots Sunday, Darling now leads the league with a .931 save percentage.

Slap shots:

Johnny Oduya registered his first point since rejoining the Hawks when he assisted on Patrick Kane's first-period goal. … Minnesota was without Martin Hanzal (sick). … After winning just 22 of 55 faceoffs in losses to Anaheim and Detroit, Jonathan Toews rebounded by winning 9 of 17 vs. the Wild. … Dennis Rasmussen, Tomas Jurco, Michal Rozsival and Michal Kempny were the Hawks' healthy scratches.