Rivals in the Central Division, this will be the third consecutive year in which the Wild and Blackhawks face each other in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Wild were the first team the Blackhawks dispatched en route to winning the Stanley Cup in 2013, needing five games to eliminate them in the first round. In 2014 the Wild were fresh off their first series win in more than a decade, culminating in a Game 7 overtime victory against the Colorado Avalanche, when the Blackhawks sent them packing with an OT win of their own to wrap up the series in six.
