Preview: Wild at Blackhawks

[April 07, 2015]  The Minnesota Wild attempt to strengthen their hold on a postseason berth when they begin their season-ending three-game road trip against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Minnesota had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot Monday but dropped its home finale to Winnipeg, which pulled within two points of the Western Conference wild card-leading Wild with three games remaining.

The setback was the third in a row for Minnesota, which is three points ahead of Los Angeles. Chicago already has its ticket to the postseason punched but is looking to improve its standing. The Blackhawks are third in the Central, two points behind second-place Nashville and three in back of division-leading St. Louis. Chicago, which is wrapping up the home portion of its regular-season schedule, may have seen its hopes for first place vanish Sunday as it dropped a 2-1 decision to the Blues at the United Center.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CSN Chicago
 

ABOUT THE WILD (44-27-8): Minnesota enters Tuesday's matchup with a 10-game winning streak on the road, the longest of its kind in the NHL since 2007. Considering the team's situation regarding the playoffs, Devan Dubnyk is likely to make his 39th consecutive start overall - and 38th since being acquired from Arizona in mid-January. The 28-year-old has gone 26-8-2 with five shutouts, a 1.75 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage to help the Wild turn around their season.

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (48-25-6): Chicago could be without defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who suffered an upper-body injury when he was drilled into the boards by Ryan Reaves in the loss to St. Louis. The 40-year-old Finn has posted a minus-3 rating without registering a point in 16 games since being obtained from Philadelphia. Captain Jonathan Toews has recorded a tally and five assists against Minnesota this season while Bryan Bickell has scored three goals and set up another.

OVERTIME

1. The Blackhawks won the first three contests of the five-game season series before being shut out by Dubnyk on Feb. 3.

2. Dubnyk's consecutive starts streak is the longest in the NHL since San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov made 43 in a row from Oct. 4, 2007-Jan. 12, 2008.

3. Despite allowing a power-play goal Monday, Minnesota leads the league with an 86.5 percent success rate on the penalty kill.

PREDICTION: Blackhawks 4, Wild 2

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