Ah, back home at the United Center. The Chicago Blackhawks return to the Madhouse on Madison tonight after spending the previous six games on the road. They’ll host the Minnesota Wild, their Western Conference semifinal opponent of the previous two seasons and a currently struggling outfit.
This will be the second of five meetings between the Central Division rivals this season. The Wild took the first of the season on Oct. 30, a game I completely forgot happened until I looked back at the schedule. The Blackhawks tripled up on hockey’s cardinal sin — allowing a goal in the first or last minutes of a period — by letting the Wild score in the first minute of both the first and third periods and last minute of the first period in a 5-4 Minnesota victory.