Did you really think the Blackhawks were going to go 48 and 0?  Well, yeah, I kinda did.  When you see a team playing as well as the Blackhawks were - with the depth, speed, skill, special teams and goaltending that they have going for them- you figure anything is possible.   What impressed me maybe more than the dominating wins were the wins when they really didn’t have their game going.  They’ve had a couple of those, as all teams do, but still found a way to win.  That is exactly what the Minnesota Wild did to the Blackhawks last night.  After their 3rd game in 4 nights, there wasn’t going to be a lot of gas left in the tank for Minnesota.  A great move by Wild head coach Mike Yeo to yank his goalie less than 7 minutes in really helped stop the bleeding. 

No need to worry if you’re a Blackhawks fan, they still own a .928 winning percentage through 7 games.  But now things get interesting for Chicago, where they play their most hated rival from the last 5 years.   Nothing comes close to the circus-like atmosphere of when the Blackhawks visit Vancouver.  And don’t look now, but there is a new goaltending controversy brewing with the Canucks.  Cory Schneider, who was deemed their number one goalie when Vancouver announced they were going to trade Roberto Louongo , has taken a back seat to the guy they are trying to trade.  After Luongo lost in L.A. on Monday night, and after a day off, Louie was back in the nets and pitched a shutout against Colorado.  How do you not start him against the Blackhawks?  Never a dull moment with the Canucks and it certainly won’t be a dull game when these two teams meet Friday night.