Tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET, the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks take the ice at the United Center in Chicago for Game 1 of their Western Conference Round 2 best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series.
Minnesota upset the St. Louis Blues in six games in Round 1 to advance while Chicago upset the Nashville Predators in a series that also spanned six games and look to advance to the Western Conference Final for the third straight season.
These are familiar foes as the Blackhawks ousted the Wild in the last two postseasons as Chicago topped Minnesota in five games in Round 1 of the 2013 playoffs and then in six games in Round 2 last spring. The Blackhawks took the first three regular season meetings from the Wild, but Minnesota won the final two clashes.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
The Wild hasn't picked up a playoff win at United Center in six tries, but the team enters with confidence it'll break the streak.
"If we're going to have success in these playoffs, we have to win at least one there," Minnesota forward Matt Cooke said per NHL.com. "We can't overemphasize Game 1, but we can't underemphasize it as well. At the end of the day, one win is one win, and one loss is one loss. We've got to go out and play like we're trying to win Game 1."
The Wild had contributions across the board in Round 1, but the team was mostly paced by its first line throughout.
Zach Parise had seven points in the first round off of three goals and four assists while Jason Pominville (two tallies, three helpers) and Mikael Granlund (one marker, four assists) each had five points.
Both teams come into the game well-rested as the Blackhawks ended their first-round series last Saturday and the Wild wrapped things up the next day.
"I think when you come out of a series playing the way we did at the end, maybe a couple of days is all you need and you want to go right into the next one," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews told NHL.com. "Some other situations might not be so much like that. You might enjoy the break. But I think for us, we're ready to go. We want to get into this thing."
Toews had a tremendous series against Nashville, leading Chicago with eight points and tying Patrick Sharp for the team lead with three goals. Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane had two tallies and five helpers apiece to finish second on the Blackhawks with seven points in Round 1 while Brent Seabrook and Brandon Saad both lit the lamp twice.
After flip-flopping between Corey Crawford and rookie Scott Darling in Round 1, Joel Quenneville announced that Crawford will man the crease in Game 1 of Round 2.
Crawford, who was shaky at times, yielded nine goals on 60 shots in the opening round while fastening a 1-1 record with a 4.19 goals-against average and a .850 save percentage.
Minnesota will counter with Devan Dubnyk, who it acquired late in the season. Dubnyk defeated Chicago twice in the regular campaign and allowed 13 goals on 149 shots in Round 1, playing to a 4-2 record with a 2.32 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
Familiar foes clash in Game 1 of Round 2 when the Wild and Blackhawks take the ice live from the United Center in Chicago as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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