Chicago – Right before the Wild's Nino Niederreiter unleashed his Game 7 winner against Colorado, Ben Smith sat on his couch, wondering if he should break out a suitcase and start packing.
Really, it's the only thing the Chicago Blackhawks forward and his teammates were concerned with. After dispatching the St. Louis Blues in six games during the first round of the NHL playoffs, there hasn't been much else to focus on, except whether the team would open Round 2 at home against the Wild or travel to Denver to play the Avalanche.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville even gave the team Monday and Tuesday off.
In about the same amount of time it took Niederreiter's game-winner to fly in and out of the Colorado net, Smith went from enjoying a nice night off to preparing for a second-round matchup with the Wild, a process that hit full force at practice Thursday morning at the United Center.
"Almost everyone, if not everyone, watched the game," Smith said. "We have a big challenge ahead of us. We saw how good they were throughout that series, but especially last night."
The challenge for the defending Stanley Cup champions will have more to do with getting back in the postseason groove than scouting a division rival they faced in the first round of the playoffs a season ago.
"We know what the Wild are capable of," Hawks winger Patrick Sharp said. "We watched their series quite a bit. They've got a little bit of everything in their lineup, so we're not taking them lightly."
The Wild will start the series with Ilya Bryzgalov in goal. He struggled in the first two games against Colorado and was replaced by Darcy Kuemper, who was injured Wednesday.
