The Chicago Blackhawks made no mistake about who they are and who the Wild are last night, coming out and completely dominating the Wild while cruising to a 5-2 victory to lead the series 2 games to none. The Hawks showed that Game 1 was not the rule for how this series would go, but rather, perhaps, the exception.

Part of the problem is that our top line is tasked with shutting down the Hawks’ top line, thereby limiting their effectiveness offensively, leaving things up to both teams’ 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines. However, while Minnesota has true 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines, Chicago’s 2nd line is every bit as good as most teams’ 1st line in the NHL. No wonder Shero in Pittsburgh went on the spending spree that he did. In the eventuality that Pittsburgh meets Chicago in the Stanley Cup Final, we will be witness to teams of equal ability. Until then, every other team in their paths are just stumbling blocks to what may be one of the best Stanley Cup Final match ups of all time.

But last night, Parise was rendered mostly ineffective, Harding again showed that notwithstanding his M.S. he’s a gamer( by tying the Wild post-season record for most saves in a game (43), matching an effort on the Wild’s 2003 Cinderella run when Manny Fernandez did the same thing against Colorado) and Koivu failed to really show up in a meaningful way.

However, these playoffs have a way of highlighting what the Wild’s needs are in the off-season: developing a better defensive corps, addressing potential issues in goal (Backstrom’s age and contract price, Harding’s M.S. and Kuemper’s relative inexperience) and more depth in the Wild’s top 6 forwards. With not a lot of cap space, yet a fair amount of flexibility, the Wild front office will only be able to address one or two of these areas and then must patiently wait another season before being able to completely address them all completely. As such, this team is a work in progress.

That said, certain players are proving that they deserve to be considered part of the solution to these problems next season. Harding is showing that he is worthy of having faith put in his ability as an NHL goaltender, his M.S. diagnosis be damned. Zucker is showing that his days in the AHL are a thing of the past. Scandella is showing that he’s the solution to rounding out a top 4 defensive corps, at least as far as the Wild patching some holes in the proverbial leaking dike until such time as management can completely address that area of weakness for this team. Also, number 10 is proving that management was right in not trading him during his early season struggles, while Heatley is proving that he may be worth keeping around given the fact that they have missed his net presence and sniping ability, regardless of his salary cap hit.

Simply put, the Blackhawks were the better team last night. As coach Yeo put it, they (the Hawks) improved from their Game 1 effort while the Wild did not. Hopefully the shorter amount of time between Game 2 and Game 3 (1 day off compared to 2 days off) will play in the Wild’s favor and against the Hawks. The Wild now need to show up, shut down the Hawks defensively and capitalize on as many counterpunch opportunities as they are given. They need to be more physical, attempt to create more offensive zone time for themselves, counterpunch effectively and simply play desperately. They have been thus far completely dominated and overmatched, which most people saw coming. Now the only question is whether the Wild can win 1 game against the Hawks and, perhaps, start turning the tide? We will find out Sunday afternoon.

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