From the Rink: Wild in search of good start against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Through the first week of the NHL's regular season, nobody has scored more first-period goals than the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago's 11 goals -- and a penchant for starting quickly -- will be one thing to keep an eye on Thursday evening when the Blackhawks host the Wild, which hasn't played a game in five days.

"We gotta make sure we match their start," said Wild forward Jason Zucker. "We gotta make sure we start out strong and play our game right from the get-go. We can't try and have a feeling-out period of time and see how they're going to play. We know how they play; they're fast, they move the puck well, and they try to get shots on net and they're gonna make a lot of good plays.
"We gotta make sure we're locked in mentally right from the start and get going."
Minnesota learned that lesson the hard way last March, when the Blackhawks scored a pair of goals in the first 4:38 of the game, driving goaltender Devan Dubnyk from the game en route to a 4-2 win at United Center.
The early offense got the crowd into the game and sustained the Blackhawks even through an eventual push Minnesota made later in the contest. The Wild got within a goal later in the first period and again 46 seconds into the third period, but was never able to find the equalizer.

"We should know from last year when they led three of four] games that we played them 2-nothing," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "If we're not ready to play, they jump into the lead and they're a great team to capitalize on mistakes when other teams start to force it."
The Wild allowed eight goals in the first two games of the regular season, a regulation loss at Detroit one week ago and a shootout loss at Carolina last Saturday.
After a day off Sunday, the Wild has spent the past three days
[working on tightening up
defensively, knowing it has games against two of the NHL's most explosive offenses the next three days.
Dubnyk, who hasn't played since the opener against the Red Wings, said his approach to jumping back into action won't change.
"I think of the same things going into a game, regardless of the game," Dubnyk said. "Obviously, when you get into the regular season, things are a little easier when it comes to routine and flowing game to game. But [the time off] is one of those things you try not to concern yourself with because that's the way the schedule is and that's the way it is the next couple of weeks as well."
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Marcus Foligno - Eric Staal - Charlie Coyle
Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Nino Niederreiter
Tyler Ennis - Joel Eriksson Ek - Chris Stewart
Daniel Winnik - Matt Cullen
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Matt Dumba
Mike Reilly - Kyle Quincey
Gustav Olofsson
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
BLACKHAWKS
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Artem Anisimov - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Tanner Kero - Alex DeBrincat
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden
Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forling - Jan Rutta
Corey Crawford
Anton Forsberg