Blackhawks vs Wild : Game 1 Preview

It's time to throw out the record books, grow your beards and/or mullets and all the other playoff cliches. We are just a few short hours away from starting the real season, the run for Lord Stanley's Cup. The Blackhawks will head into their opening game a bit short handed. Dave Bolland and Ray Emery will not dress tonight. Henrik Karlsson will back up Corey Crawford in net tonight. The Wild will be with out Jason Pominville, which is a significant loss. To catch up on all things Wild, check out my write up on them here.

Probable Blackhawks lineup

Forwards

Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp - Michal Handzus - Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell - Andrew Shaw - Viktor Stalberg
Brandon Bollig - Marcus Kruger - Michael Frolik

Defensive Pairings
Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Michal Rozsival - Nick Leddy

Goaltender

Corey Crawford

Probable Wild Lineup

Fowards

Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Charlie Coyle
Devin Setoguchi - Matt Cullen - Jason Zucker
Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Kyle Brodziak - Cal Clutterbuck
Mike Rupp - Zenon Konopka- Torrey Mitchell

Defensive Pairings

Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin
Clayton Stoner - Tom Gilbert
Brett Clark - Jared Spurgeon

Goaltender

Niklas Backstrom

TEAM	GP	RECORD	HOME	AWAY	L10	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%	PIM/G	S/G	S/A	FO%
WILD	48	26-19-3	14-8-2	12-11-1	4-5-1	2.46	2.6	17.9	80.7	11.4	28.8	27.1	52.4
HAWKS	48	36-7-5	18-3-3	18-4-2	7-2-1	3.1	2.02	16.7	87.2	9.2	31.1	26.2	50.8

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