Wild Warmup: Minnesota at Chicago

The essentials

The opponent

The second-highest scoring team in the NHL during the opening week of the season, the Chicago Blackhawks enter play on Thursday having earned at least one point in all four of their games so far. Even in its only loss, Chicago led by two midway through the third period in Toronto, but surrendered a pair of goals less than three minutes apart before losing in overtime. In two games played at the United Center, Chicago has outscored its opponents by a 15-2 margin; those teams, defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh and Columbus, were among the best in the NHL last season.
Brandon Saad, re-acquired over the summer in a trade with the Blue Jackets, has five goals and seven points in four games. Richard Panik, Patrick Kane and Ryan Hartman each have six points while Jonathan Toews has five.
Goaltender Corey Crawford has won each of his three starts, posting a 1.00 goals against and a .971 save percentage overall.

Connections

• Wild coach Bruce Boudreau skated in seven games with Chicago during the 1985-86 season.
• Wild goaltending coach Bob Mason appeared in 41 games for the Blackhawks in 1987-88.

Beating the Blackhawks

The Wild has earned points in nine of its past 11 games against Chicago (8-2-1), and has posted a 4-1-0 record in its last five games in the Windy City. In the past 24 meetings between the Wild and Blackhawks since April 1, 2012, Minnesota is 14-8-2, with 13 of those contests being decided by one goal, and five in a shootout.