Currently: - Game info: 8:00 pm EST Wed Feb 5, 2003
- TV: FSCH, FSM
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (TICKER) —The Chicago Blackhawks seek consecutive wins for the first time in over a month when they visit the Xcel Energy Center to face the Minnesota Wild.
Chicago improved to 1-2 on its season-high seven-game road trip with a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins last Thursday and has not won two in a row since defeating the Los Angeles Kings on December 30 and the St. Louis Blues on January 2.
Theo Fleury snapped an eight-game goalless drought with his first two-goal game of the season and Jocelyn Thibault made 44 saves at Boston. Fleury scored Chicago’s only power-play goal in seven chances. The Blackhawks are last in the NHL on the power play at 11.9 percent (25-of-211).
Thibault is 22-15-7 with a 2.16 goals-against average and made his first All-Star Game appearance on Sunday. He played the second period and stopped 10-of-12 shots.
Minnesota comes off a 2-2-1 road trip and is 14-10-3 at home.
Last Wednesday, Jim Dowd scored Minnesota’s only goal in a 5-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Minnesota right wing Marian Gaborik, who turns 21 on February 14, was the youngest player in Sunday’s All-Star Game. Gaborik won the fastest skater event at the SuperSkills Competition and scored a goal with 4:05 remaining in the first period Sunday. He leads the Wild with 26 goals and 23 assists.
The Wild have a win and a tie in two meetings in Chicago this season. Minnesota leads the all-time series, 5-4-1, including a 2-2-0 mark here where the teams meet again on March 28.
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