From the Rink: Wild expects desperate effort from rival Blackhawks

ST. PAUL -- Time and again this season, the Wild has managed to find a way to respond following tough defeats.
Following an overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks heading into the bye week, Minnesota scored a 5-2 win against NHL-leading Tampa Bay the first game back.
A 6-3 loss in Pittsburgh into the All-Star break had little effect on a 3-2 win in Columbus next time out. A 6-1 loss in Dallas motivated the group in a 6-2 victory in St. Louis 72 hours later.

Now, coming off a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, the Wild will try and respond again, this time against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday night.
"There's a lot of pride in here," said Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. "Whether it's with Mikko [Koivu] saying things or Ryan [Suter], or the other leaders on our team, they all do a good job of getting us going and getting us pumped up for the games."

Minnesota shouldn't need much in the way of motivation on Saturday. Not against the rival Blackhawks, who have knocked the Wild from the postseason three times in recent seasons.
Chicago has lost four-straight games, eight of 10 and nine of 12 since Minnesota scored a 2-1 win at the United Center last month. The Blackhawks are in last place in the Central Division, eight points back of the Wild in the standings.
"Chicago is by no means out of it, by the way," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau reminded folks on Saturday.
Boudreau knows -- and has reminded players -- that Minnesota is likely to get a desperate effort from Chicago because of its place in the standings.
With the games remaining starting to dwindle, a 10-point deficit in the standings is quite the mountain to climb, especially in the age of the three-point game.
That's why the Wild is expecting the Blackhawks to throw everything it has tonight.
"When you pay attention to the standings, you see where they're at and where we're at," said Wild forward Eric Staal. "They're gonna be real desperate, so we gotta have our mindset ready and get off to a good start and try to take them out of it early."
On the flip side, Minnesota could potentially be the team that delivers a serious blow to Chicago's postseason hopes. The Blackhawks have made the playoffs nine consecutive seasons, winning three Stanley Cups during that span.
That provides the Wild with some motivation of its own.
"You see over the last couple of years how the standings work and how tight it is down the stretch," Staal said. If you can separate yourself -- even though there is a lot of games left -- if you can push them down behind you, especially within our division, it'd be huge. We're aware of that, and I'm sure they are as well. It should be an entertaining game."
Here are the projected lineups:
BLACKHAWKS
Alex DeBrincat - Jonathan Toews - Anthony Duclair
Ryan Hartman - Artem Anisimov - Patrick Kane
Brandon Saad - Nick Schmaltz - Tommy Wingels
Lance Bouma - David Kampf - Vince Hinostroza
Duncan Keith - Jordan Oesterle
Erik Gustafsson - Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom - Connor Murphy
Jeff Glass
Anton Forsberg
WILD
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Nino Niederreiter - Eric Staal - Tyler Ennis
Zach Parise - Matt Cullen - Charlie Coyle
Marcus Foligno - Joel Eriksson Ek - Daniel Winnik
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Gustav Olofsson - Matt Dumba
Mike Reilly - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Related:
- Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Chicago - Listen: PONDcast preview of Wild-Blackhawks - Watch: Wild Vision vs. Chicago