Chicago Blackhawks vs. Minnesota Wild TV Listings, Streaming

Like every game until the end of the season or until they lose another six straight, the Minnesota Wild face a must-win tonight as the Chicago Blackhawks come to St. Paul.

The Wild lineup will be a little different than it was over their three-game road trip (and winning streak). Christian Folin will still be a scratch, but Justin Fontaine and Matt Cooke are out with injuries leaving Erik Haula to draw into his second straight game after being a healthy scratch the two before that. In addition, the Wild recalled forward Jordan Schroeder from Iowa.

But! You can catch up on that and a lot more in today’s game preview.

Before we get to TV listings, playoff odds, and links…

Did you see Jordan Eberle‘s goal against the Sharks last night? So nice.

Minnesota Wild TV Listings, Streaming Options
TV: NBC Sports Network (nationally broadcast) and CSN Chicago
Online Streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra
Radio: KFAN 100.3 FM in the Minneapolis area and WGN 720 in the Chicago area
Radio streaming: NHL Radio or KFAN at I Heart Radio

Playoff Odds:
Since we’ve been tweeting these out a lot, I’m going to start including them in the Pre-Game Skate. I’m taking the playoff chances from Sports Club Stats. There are a handful of spots you can get this info. I’m sticking with Sorts Club Stats for the sake of consistency. The actual number seems less important to me than the trends.

The Wild start tonight with 18.6% chance of making the playoffs. That’s up just under a percentage point from yesterday, where they were aided by the Sharks just getting one point in a shootout loss (13 rounds!) to Edmonton, as well as a regulation loss by the Winnipeg Jets to the Calgary Flames.

Tonight, the Wild help themselves out a lot by winning, but as far as games that are out of their control we’re looking for wins from the Washington Capitals, Vancouver Canucks, and Colorado Avalanche. Wins by the Tampa Bay Lightning over the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs over the Nashville Predators wouldn’t hurt either, but those games essential have no impact on the Wild’s chances at this point.

Good Reads Before the Game:

Ben has a new three stars of the week feature up.

Devan Dubnyk was named the NHL’s third star of the week.

A bit from Wild Xtra on the Wild and turnovers.

Damned Lies and Statistics: Vanek isn’t good at defense and Granlund might be one-dimensional, but he’s elite at what he’s good at.

There’s a great interview with former Edmonton Oilers coach Dallas Eakins on this week’s episode of TSN Analytics.

I wrote a bit about the Buffalo Sabres and what the difference in their play was between a 10-3-0 run in November and their current 0-14-0 run. (Hint: Not much. Luck. They still played terrible when they were winning.)

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