Playoffs: Who Wins: Blackhawks or Wild

CHICAGO (AP) -- For all their accomplishments so far - the record-breaking start, the Presidents' Trophy, the individual honors - the Chicago Blackhawks know this is the time of year that will define their season. They said the same thing all along.

Jonathan Toews and Co. also know all the reasons for concern heading into their playoff series against the Minnesota Wild.

The Blackhawks are favored to make it to the Stanley Cup for the second time in four seasons, but the Wild bring plenty of talent into Game 1 on Tuesday night. Then there is Chicago's recent postseason history, and the checkered performance for past winners of the Presidents' Trophy, adding to the intrigue.

''Everyone knows, if you look at how the playoffs have gone the past couple years, if you're the first or the eighth seed, it doesn't really matter,'' Toews said after the Blackhawks practiced at the United Center on Monday. ''So as soon as Game 1 starts tomorrow, everything that happened before that is pretty meaningless and we know that.''


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Zucker's Goal gives Wild 3-2 Win over Blackhawks

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Beating the Chicago Blackhawks usually requires a certain kind of performance: bruising, aggressive and unflappable.

That's precisely what the Minnesota Wild produced, entertaining the fans at their first home playoff game in five years.

They had a little luck, too, when Jason Zucker blindly sent his bad-angle overtime shot toward the goal.

Zucker scored at 2:15 of the extra period to give the Wild a 3-2 victory on Sunday to pull within 2-1 in the Western Conference quarterfinal series.

''I don't know if I even saw the net. I probably didn't even look at the net,'' said the rookie Zucker, who raced to the corner and jumped against the glass to celebrate. ''I just tried shooting it, and it happened to go in for me.''

Pierre-Marc Bouchard had a goal for the Wild after Johnny Oduya scored for the Blackhawks late in the first period. Patrick Kane had two assists for the Blackhawks and has five in the series.

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