NHL: CHICAGO (0-0) at MINNESOTA (0-0) <h3>Blackhawks take on Wild in season opener</h3> <div class="pre">Chicago at Minnesota 8:30 pm EDT</div> ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The Chicago Blackhawks will belooking to snap a seven-game winless streak against theMinnesota Wild as the teams both open the season on Thursdaynight. After losing the final three meetings of the 2005-2006 season,Chicago dropped all four games against the Wild last year,including three in overtime or shootout. Martin Havlat led the Blackhawks with 25 goals and 32 assistsbut Chicago ranked just 29th in offense. Therefore, the clubwent out and acquired centers Yanic Perreault and Robert Langalong with right wing Patrick Kane, who was the first overallpick of the 2007 NHL draft, to help out goaltender NikolaiKhabibulin. The 34-year-old veteran netminder is entering his third seasonwith the Blackhawks and is coming off a 25-26-5 campaign.Khabibulin had a 2.86 goals-against average last year, which wasalmost a one-half goal improvement from the previous season. Minnesota is led by goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who had a23-8-6 record last season to go along with a league-leading 1.97GAA. The Wild also had five players register at least 20 goals a yearago. Brian Rolston and Marian Gaborik scored 31 and 30,respectively, and Pavol Demitra led the team with 39 assists.Minnesota led the league by allowing only 191 goals as it won afranchise-best 48 games and had 104 points last season.
NHL: CHICAGO at MINNESOTA <div class="pre">NHL AT MINNESOTA STARTING GOALIES: CHI - NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN MIN - NIKLAS BACKSTROM OFFICIALS: REF - MARC JOANNETTE, TOM KOWAL LIN - BRAD LAZAROWICH, DEREK AMELL</div>
NHL: CHICAGO at MINNESOTA <div class="pre">CHICAGO VS MINNESOTA - SCRATCHES CHICAGO MINNESOTA D RICHMOND HEALTHY K FOSTER GROIN T RUUTU KNEE INJURY M FOY HEALTHY J TOEWS FINGER INJURY J SHEPPARD HEALTHY</div>
NHL: CHICAGO at MINNESOTA <div class="pre">NHL END OF THE 1ST 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- CHICAGO 0 0 MINNESOTA 0 0 END OF THE 1ST GOAL SCORING: 1ST PRD: NONE SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- CHI 9 9 MIN 3 3 GOALIES: CHI - NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN MIN - NIKLAS BACKSTROM</div>
NHL: CHICAGO at MINNESOTA <div class="pre">------------------------ Chicago 0 --0 Minnesota 0 --0 ------------------------ FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: M Lapointe, Chi (hooking), 2:11. Shots on goal: ----------------------------- Chicago 9 --9 Minnesota 3 --3 ----------------------------- Goalies : Chicago, Nikolai Khabibulin (3 shots, 3 saves). Minnesota, Niklas Backstrom (9 shots, 9 saves). Referees: Marc Joannette, Tom Kowal. Linesmen: Brad Lazarowich, Derek Amell.</div>
NHL: CHICAGO at MINNESOTA <div class="pre">NHL CHICAGO 0 MINNESOTA 1 2ND PRD: MIN - PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD 1 (ERIC BELANGER, BRIAN ROLSTON) 4:47</div>
NHL: CHICAGO at MINNESOTA <div class="pre">NHL END OF THE 2ND 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- CHICAGO 0 0 0 MINNESOTA 0 1 1 END OF THE 2ND GOAL SCORING: 1ST PRD: NONE 2ND PRD: MIN - PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD 1 (ERIC BELANGER, BRIAN ROLSTON) 4:47 SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- CHI 9 11 20 MIN 3 14 17 GOALIES: CHI - NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN MIN - NIKLAS BACKSTROM</div>