WILD vs. BLACKHAWKS
The season series exemplifies the Wild season to perfection — pre-Dubnyk and post-Dubnyk. The Wild went 0-3 against the Blackhawks before acquiring goalie Devan Dubnyk on Jan. 14 and were outscored 13-6. The Wild went 2-0 against the Blackhawks after acquiring Dubnyk, outscoring the Blackhawks 5-1 and clinching a playoff spot in Chicago on April 7.
Vital stats
Wild's all-time regular-season record vs. Blackhawks: 32-22-3 (18-10-1 at Xcel Energy Center, 14-12-2 at United Center).
Wild's all-time playoff record vs. Blackhawks: 3-8 (3-2 at Xcel Energy Center, 0-6 at United Center). Wild lost to the Blackhawks in the 2013 conference quarterfinals and 2014 conference semifinals.
Playoff appearances: Wild's sixth since 2000-01 (three in a row, no championships); Blackhawks' 60th since 1926-27, seven in a row, five championships, including 2010 and 2013).
2014-15 meetings
Dec. 16 at Chicago: Blackhawks 5, Wild 3
With Niklas Backstrom in net, the Wild jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Thomas Vanek's goal, but Chicago scored three times in the second period on goals by Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews. Nino Niederreiter and Marco Scandella scored in the third to tie the score, but Erik Haula took a late penalty and Patrick Kane scored the winner with 3:28 left, on the subsequent power play.
Jan. 8 at Minnesota: Blackhawks 4, Wild 2
With Darcy Kuemper injured, Backstrom was in net again and the Wild fell behind early for a sixth consecutive game and never caught up. Patrick Sharp and Kane scored first-period goals and Bryan Bickell, who has 15 goals in the past 22 regular-season and playoff games against the Wild, scored twice in the third period.
Jan. 11 at Chicago: Blackhawks 4, Wild 1
This was the second-to-last game in the pre-Dubnyk era. The Wild and Backstrom struggled mightily as Hossa, Bickell, Brad Richards and Johnny Oduya scored to give Chicago a 4-0 lead by the end of two periods. After the game, there were gloomy quotes by Ryan Suter saying, "I don't know what the heck is going on, but every day's a bad day right now."
Feb. 3 at Minnesota: Wild 3, Blackhawks 0
With 24 saves, Dubnyk picked up his third shutout in eight starts with the Wild, which got goals from Mikko Koivu, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund. Dubnyk said, "That was just an incredible game by our guys," and coach Mike Yeo said the Wild probably hadn't played a better game this season: "Hopefully, that's a sign of things to come."
April 7 at Chicago: Wild 2, Blackhawks 1
Granlund and Zucker scored third-period goals and Dubnyk made 33 saves as the Wild clinched a playoff spot for a third consecutive year. The first person to congratulate the Wild coaching staff after the game was Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. Said Yeo: "This was only one step. We have bigger plans. I'm very, very proud of our guys for what they overcame."
MICHAEL RUSSO
