Josh Harding was removed in the second period after allowing four goals on 21 shots in the Minnesota Wild's 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. Niklas Backstrom has been abysmal in his last six outings with just one win, a 3.54-goals-against average and .890 save percentage, so Minnesota turned to the 27-year-old in net. Only, the Wild also called up Matthew Hackett prior to the game because Harding had been ill and the team wanted to make sure it had two healthy goaltenders. Harding allowed four straight goals (and lasted 36:27) before the Wild could answer back midway through the third. Hackett only faced eight shots in relief. Suffice to say, this is a messy goaltending situation, compounded by the second weakest offense in the NHL.