The Chicago Blackhawks reach the halfway point of their season Wednesday, and they have yet to lose a game in regulation. But none of their success has come at the expense of the Colorado Avalanche. The teams open a home-and-home series at United Center on this week's NBCSN's Wednesday Night Rivalry before heading to Denver for the rematch on Friday.

Chicago has gotten points in each of its last 29 games, passing the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens for sole possession of the second-longest streak in NHL history. However, they've struggled against Colorado -- the Avalanche went 3-1-0 against Chicago in each of the past two seasons and won both trips to the United Center last season.

Here's a statistical look at this week's Rivalry Night matchup:

Avs back on top: Colorado's success against the Blackhawks in the previous two seasons has moved the Avalanche ahead of Chicago in the all-time series between the franchises. The Avalanche, who entered the NHL as the Quebec Nordiques in 1979, have won 52 of the 108 meetings. Chicago has won 47, while nine ended in ties. Colorado has had a more substantial edge since moving to Denver in 1995 -- the Avs have won 36 of the 63 games played, lost 24 and tied three. The Blackhawks have struggled badly in the Mile High City, winning just nine times, losing 20 and tying twice.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been waiting for Nazem Kadri to become the impact player they hoped he'd be when they took him with the seventh pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. If last week is any indication, their patience is paying off.

Nazem Kadri

Center - TOR

GOALS: 8 | ASST: 13 | PTS: 21
SOG: 47 | +/-: 11

Defensive problems have hampered Kadri's development, but the lessons he learned with the AHL Toronto Marlies appear to be taking hold. Not only is Kadri the Leafs' leading scorer, but he's also in the top-15 in the NHL in plus-minus rating at plus-11.

The Chicago Blackhawks are off to the best 20-game start in NHL history -- they are the only team in League history to get points in each of their first 20 games. But in terms of where they rank among the best-ever 20-game segments, regardless of when they occur in a season, they're a step behind the best.

No team has won 20 in a row -- the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins hold the record with 17 consecutive wins, two of which came in overtime. The Blackhawks improved to 17-0-3 by beating St. Louis 3-0 on Thursday, giving them 37 points, one short of the most ever in a 20-game segment at any point in an NHL season. The Montreal Canadiens went 19-1-0 (38 points) in a 20-game segment of the 1967-68 season, still the best of any team in that number of games. Four other teams went 18-1-1 for 37 points; only the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings did so after the re-introduction of overtime. Seven more had 36 points; two were 16-0-4 and five teams went 17-1-2.

For the second time in as many weeks, NBCSN's Wednesday Night Rivalry presented by Coors Light features an East-West doubleheader.

The Capitals and Flyers open the night when they renew hostilities at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The nightcap features the Detroit Red Wings opening a road trip with a visit to Los Angeles. Both games can be seen on the NBC Sports Network in the United States and TSN2 in Canada.

Though they're not in the same division, the Flyers and Capitals are separated by a mere 120 miles -- and though the Flyers dominated the early years of the series, the Caps have made up some ground in since the arrival of Alex Ovechkin eight years ago. Detroit's recent domination of its series with the Kings has moved the Red Wings back in front in their all-time series, which began in 1967.

Here's a statistical look at Wednesday Night Rivalry doubleheader:

• The Chicago Blackhawks will take the ice against San Jose on Friday night hoping to eclipse the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks when it comes to most games from the start of a season earning at least one point.

The Hawks enter the night tied with the Ducks of six years ago, having earned at least one point in each of their first 16 games. They passed the 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers' season-opening run of 15 straight games (12 wins, 3 ties) with a 4-3 shootout win against Vancouver; that came two days after a 3-2 win against Los Angeles moved them past the '43-44 Montreal Canadiens (14 games; 11 wins, 3 ties).

SHARKS-BLACKHAWKS ON NHLN-US

Chicago, still unbeaten in regulation, squares off with San Jose on Friday night. Watch live at 8:30 PM ET on NHL Network-US.

But while the Blackhawks' 13-0-3 mark includes two overtime wins and a 2-3 mark in shootouts, it's not unfair to say that their season-opening run has been the most difficult of the four.

To start with, the Hawks played 10 of their first 12 games on the road (they were 8-0-2) before coming back to the United Center for a seven-game homestand. In contrast, Anaheim had 10 of its 16 games at home (7-0-3), Edmonton played eight of its 15 games at the building now known as Rexall Place (7-0-1) and the wartime Canadiens went 8-0-1 while playing nine of 14 at the Forum. Chicago's schedule included two trips to California, each of which also included a stop in Phoenix, as well as a two-game journey through Western Canada.

The Blackhawks have walked a lot of tightropes. Ten of their 16 games have been one-goal contests, including seven that went past regulation -- they are 2-0 in OT and 2-3 in shootouts. Anaheim also had 10 one-goal games, seven of which weren't decided in regulation. In contrast, Edmonton played just two one-goal games (and three ties), while Montreal had only one game decided by a single goal (plus three ties).

The NHL season reached the quarter mark this week. It's been a tough quarter for the defending champion Los Angeles Kings and the Washington Capitals, a brilliant one for the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. Power-play production is up, at least for some teams, but overall scoring is just about the same as it was last season -- and there's a surprise name at the top of the scoring race.

Here's a look at some of this season's trends though the first quarter:

Scoring: The average first-quarter game saw teams combine for an average of 5.34 non-shootout goals, barely changed from the 5.32 per-game total from last season. But this season's number has been dropping as teams get more used to their systems after a shortened training camp. The first two weeks saw an average of 5.55 goals per game; after that, it was 5.12.

The Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues should know each other pretty well by now.

Not only do the Red Wings and Blues both play in the Central Division, they'll be seeing each other for the fourth time in less than four weeks when they get together at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday Night Rivalry presented by Coors Light (NBCSN/TSN2). The Red Wings were routed 6-0 in St. Louis on opening night, but earned a 5-3 win in Detroit on Feb. 1 and beat the Blues 5-1 in St. Louis six days later.

After going 6-1-0 in January, the Blues are trying to snap a slide that has seen them lose all five games this month, including the two to the Red Wings. Detroit is trying to extend a three-game winning streak that began with the victory at St. Louis last week.

Here's a statistical look at two teams who've been battling each other for more than 45 years.

Jack Johnson

Defense - CBJ

GOALS: 1 | ASST: 3 | PTS: 4
SOG: 26 | +/-: -4

With the 2012-13 season reduced from 82 to 48 games, NHL teams are asking for more work from a lot of their top players in the early going.

Florida's Brian Campbell and Chicago's Duncan Keith topped all players last season with an average time on ice of 26:53. Three weeks into this season, seven players are averaging more than that, with Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson on top at 28:30 per game. Ottawa's Erik Karlsson (27:59), Los Angeles' Drew Doughty (27:52), Toronto's Dion Phaneuf (27:35) and Minnesota's Ryan Suter (27:23) also are over 27 minutes a game.

It's fitting that the NHL's longest-running feud begins its latest chapter on Wednesday Night Rivalry.

No two Eastern Conference teams have played each other more often in the regular season than the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. They'll meet Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS), for the 718th time in a series that has seen the Canadiens win 345 games and the Bruins go home happy 269 times (the other 103 ended in ties before the adoption of the shootout in 2005). The teams have also squared off in 33 playoff series, far more than any other two teams in League history, and they've battled in an NHL-record eight Game 7s.

Regardless of who's in the lineup or where the game is being played, these two teams don't like each other. Here's a statistical look at two teams who've been battling since their first meeting on Dec. 8, 1924.

Logic says the abbreviated training camps before this season's truncated 48-game schedule should make it harder for teams to get their power plays to mesh. Then again, hockey isn't always logical.

Though training camps lasted less than a week, giving coaches little time to get organized, power-play success around the NHL in the early going is up markedly from last season's 17.3-percent rate. Through the end of January (100 games), teams are scoring on 20.1-percent of their power plays, a level not seen during a full season since 1989-90.

However, the power-play improvement isn't universal. Five teams, led by the New York Islanders at 37.5 percent, have converted on at least 30 percent of their chances. Seven others are below last season's League-low rate of 13.5 percent by Dallas (the Stars are at 16.0 percent entering the weekend).