During the week, the Chicago Blackhawks lost two in a row following their successful trip to Southern California last weekend. They are looking to bounce back with a Sunday evening matchup against a high-end division rival.
The Minnesota Wild will be at the United Center with a 10-2-2 record and 22 standings points in 14 games. To say they’ve been red-hot would be an understatement.
Minnesota currently has the third-most points in the NHL. They are only in second place in the Central Division because the Winnipeg Jets are one of the two teams ahead of them in the league standings. The Jets are 14-1-0 which is one of the best starts in NHL history.
What makes the Wild so good? Well, it starts and ends with Kirill Kaprizov who is now one of the best offensive players in the NHL.
Kaprizov comes into this game with the second-most points in the league. He had the most when their most recent game (a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks) ended but Nathan MacKinnon went out and had a four-point night on Saturday.
Other top scorers on the Wild include Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, and Marco Rossi who are all right around a point per game at this time.
On defense, good players like Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin are as solid as they come. There is also Brock Faber who Blackhawks fans know well from last year’s Calder Trophy race. Faber came in second to Blackhawks star Connor Bedard.
In that win against Anaheim a couple of nights ago, Filip Gustavsson was incredible in the net for Minnesota. It wouldn’t be surprising if they turned right back to him in this one. It also wouldn’t be shocking if they started Marc-Andre Fleury against one of his old teams. Fleury is expected to retire after this year.
The Blackhawks need to play a great game if they want to beat the Wild. That means being smart with the puck in the offensive zone, being hard to play against in the defensive zone, and some good goaltending would help as well.
You don’t stop a guy like Kaprizov. You only hope to contain him and his fellow Wild stars. You should see a lot of Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic out there against number 97 in white.
Production from Connor Bedard, Teuvo Teravainen, and Taylor Hall amongst the other offensive players on this team would go a long way if they want to win. Getting bodies down low and in front of whoever Minnesota starts in the net could be key.
Win or lose, this is a good challenge for this team that is trying to find their way. They have made life difficult on a few good teams this season including the Winnipeg Jets who we talked about having that great start. They can do that to the Wild too if everybody brings their best on a Sunday night.
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