CHICAGO -- This time, it was hard work for the Chicago Blackhawks. No pretty goals on this night, just get to the front of the net and fight for a chance. Pushed, poked and prodded by the Minnesota Wild, Jonathan Toews and Co. found a way. Toews had a tough rebound goal early in the third period, and the Blackhawks beat the Wild 2-1 on Sunday to take a 3-2 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals. "The whole game, the whole series has been very tight," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "Still not a lot of room and space, but thats what weve got to fight through. I thought we showed more determination in the puck area tonight." Bryan Bickell also scored and Corey Crawford made 27 saves as Chicago bounced back from consecutive losses in Minnesota that handed the momentum to the Wild heading into Game 5. But the Blackhawks were back at the United Center, where they improved to 6-0 in this post-season and 17-2 over the past two playoffs. "As the game went on, we found ways to play better as a five-man unit," Toews said. "Once one line would generate a good shift and get us some energy, the next line would follow it right up. I think thats when were an effective team, when we have four lines going like that and contributing." Erik Haula scored in the first period for the Wild, and Ilya Bryzgalov had 26 stops. Minnesota became the first team to score first in the second round of the NHL playoffs and lose, dropping that record to 19-1, according to STATS. "We tried to hang on to something we wanted to have happen and we fell victim to it," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. Game 6 is Tuesday night in Minnesota, where the Wild are undefeated in this post-season. Minnesota had a chance to grab the lead in the third but Crawford made a nice kick save on Cody McCormick about 2 1/2 minutes into the period. He also had a solid glove stop on Ryan Suter with the Blackhawks clinging to a 2-1 lead with 4:38 to go. "We just need a better effort," Wild star Zach Parise said. "Not that it was terrible. I mean, we had our chance to win at the end of the game. We did some things really well. But I think we can be better, and we know we can be better." Toews, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp combined to put Chicago in front 4 1/2 minutes into the third. Hossa sent the puck in front to Toews at the right post. The captain was stopped by Bryzgalov, but he managed to slam home a backhand for his fifth goal of the playoffs. "It was an ugly goal," said Toews, who also had a big hit on Wild forward Mikael Granlund right before he scored. "As a line we were playing well and looking to find a way to score. I happened to get an ugly one on the side." The first period looked similar to much of the past two games in Minnesota, with the Wild using their speed and checking ability to shut down Chicagos high-powered attack. The Wild also outworked the defending Stanley Cup champions early on as Quenneville tried several line combinations looking for a spark. Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook was whistled for tripping just 29 seconds into the game, and Granlund sent an open look off the outside of the right post on the ensuing power play. A terrific individual effort by Haula put Minnesota in front at 16:33 of the first. He drove through the Chicago zone and kept moving after his first try was stopped by Crawford, flipping a backhand into the net for his third goal of the post-season. Chicago started to generate more chances in the second, but most of its early shots came from outside and Bryzgalov gobbled them up easily. Marcus Kruger sent a pass through the Minnesota crease, but no one was there for the Blackhawks. It took a well-timed dash by a seldom-used role player to set up Chicagos third goal in the past three games. Playing for the first time since April 12, Peter Regin drove to the net to draw a hooking penalty on Jonas Brodin. Regin was active for the first time in the playoffs after the Blackhawks scratched Andrew Shaw with a lower-body injury, and Brandon Bollig sat out with a two-game suspension for boarding Wild defenceman Keith Ballard in Game 4. On the ensuing power play, Patrick Kanes slap shot went off Bickells left leg and past Bryzgalov to make it 1-1 at 9:18 of the second. It was Bickells sixth goal of the playoffs. NOTES: Game 7 would be Thursday in Chicago. ... The Wild played without Ballard (upper-body injury) and forward Matt Moulson (lower-body injury). ... Blackhawks D Michal Rozsival was scratched after he struggled in Game 4. D Sheldon Brookbank and F Kris Versteeg returned to Chicagos lineup. NFL China Factory . The 23-year-old restricted free agent appeared in all 48 games last season, finishing second among all Sabres skaters with 15 goals and 34 points. NFL Jerseys China . Sources tell TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun the international tournament will likely return in September 2016 rather than 2015. http://www.cheapnfljerseysbest.com/. -- The Florida Gators are first yet again this season. Cheap NFL Shirts . I kept my eyes focused up on the camera during each approach. I just tried to stay focused on my form, as I didnt know what the ball reaction was. I was quite emotional at the end. I did not actually see any of the shots in the game until I got home and watched the video. Wholesale NFL Jerseys .Lets go back to the Avs, who have become one of the funnest teams to watch in this years playoffs.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Pittsburgh Steelers are good again. For a week anyway.Yet if one of the NFLs most enigmatic teams has learned anything over the last three months, its that stringing success from one Sunday to the next remains tricky. This weeks season-salvaging triumph is next weeks gut-punch loss. Thirteen weeks into an equally parts promising and puzzling season, Pittsburgh finally insists its ready to stop running in place.I feel like this time of the year, youre not allowed to have those slip-ups anymore, linebacker Arthur Moats said. If we want to be a team like were trying to be, we have to be successful this week.Good luck with that. A trip to Atlanta is the only thing between the Steelers (8-5) and a two-game homestand against Kansas City and the Bengals that will determine whether they make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011. Three wins and Pittsburgh captures the AFC North. Two and a return to January football is likely. Anything less — and the Steelers will almost certainly be favoured in all three games — and another long off-season awaits.The math is simple. Breaking a pattern in which the Steelers have mixed euphoric wins against contenders to confounding losses to also-rans is not.Maybe thats why dozens of players showed up at the team facility on Monday even though coach Mike Tomlin gave them the day off.The actions on your off days speak a lot about you, Moats said.Moats spent the first four seasons of his career in Buffalo, admitting during my first two or three years there, going into the bye week, you pretty much knew it was over.Not this time. As uneven as Pittsburgh has been this fall, when the Steelers are on they are every bit as explosive as New England or Denver. The problem is what happens when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and stars LeVeon Bell and Antonio Brown are off.Pittsburgh is on pace to set a club record for points in a season, needing to average just 19 points over the final three weeks to eclipse the 416 scored by the 1979 team that won the franchises fourth Super Bowl in season years. That club went 112-4 and won eight games by at least 11 points.dddddddddddd The current group only has three blowouts under its belt, and while the romp over the Bengals qualifies, the Steelers still entered the fourth quarter trailing before scoring four times in less than 10 minutes.I dont care about the style points, coach Mike Tomlin said. Were just trying to do what is necessary to get out of these stadiums with wins.Of course, Tomlin would like to do it with some consistency. And while the Chiefs and Bengals will almost certainly have Pittsburghs attention on the final two weekends of the season, who knows what awaits in Atlanta. The Falcons are under .500 but in first place in the NFC South. The last time the Steelers faced a team like that, New Orleans blew them off the field.Its why Moats, at best, is cautiously optimistic. Hes not the only player trying to make the post-season for the first time in his career. It can be a painful learning process. Truth is, the losses to Tampa Bay, the New York Jets and New Orleans didnt seem as crushing in the moment. Any similar missteps here on out and the repercussions will extend into a murky future.If you lose a game now, youre talking about losing the division, missing the playoffs, Moats said.He welcomes the pressure while allowing the defence needs to improve. Moats fourth-quarter fumble recovery kickstarted Pittsburghs late surge, one that was required after the Bengals spent three quarters popping one big play after the next. When it mattered, however, the Steelers shut the door.The win allowed Moats to check his phone in the giddy aftermath to see how the rest of the AFC contenders fared. It beats the alternative, though the veterans in the locker room know its best to focus on their own games. Win games and what everyone else does hardly matters.Every week is kind of a playoff week for us, Roethlisberger said. Were going to give it everything we have every week. And it doesnt get any easier moving forward.Something the Steelers know only too well.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '