The defending Stanley Cup champions will begin the second round on home ice, as the Chicago Blackhawks host the Minnesota Wild at United Center in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Curt Schilling Jersey . Watch the Blackhawks vs. Wild live tonight on TSN2 at 9:30pm et/6:30pm pt. This series is rematch of a 2013 postseason matchup, as the Wild were the Blackhawks first victim in their march to the Cup last year. Chicago knocked Minnesota out of the first round in five games, losing only Game 3 on the road and holding a 17-7 edge in scoring. That was the first playoff meeting between these clubs, but the Wild can lean on the fact they went 3-1-1 versus the Blackhawks this season, splitting two games in Chicago. Game 2 of this series also will be staged in the Windy City on Sunday afternoon. For a little while, the Blackhawks quest to repeat as NHL champions appeared as if it was going to come to an end with a first-round exit. Then the Blackhawks reminded everyone just whey they are coming off their second Stanley Cup in four years. It looked as if Chicagos inability to claim home-ice advantage in its quarterfinals matchup with the St. Louis Blues would be the difference, as the Blackhawks lost a pair of overtime decisions to begin the set. That included a triple-overtime setback in Game 1 at Scottrade Center and the fact that the Hawks followed up with another 4-3 overtime setback in Game 2 could have left the club with slumped shoulders going back to the Windy City. Instead of rolling over, the Blackhawks got a 34-save shutout from Corey Crawford to win Game 3 before Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews potted back-to- back overtime-winning goals in Games 4 and 5. Toews then started a four-goal barrage in the third period of Game 6s series-clinching 5-1 win. Toews showed why he wears the captains "C" on his jersey as all three of his goals in the series were game-winners and he matched defenseman and Norris Trophy nominee Duncan Keith for the club lead with seven points. Toews was one of six multi-goal scorers for the Blackhawks in the series, with Kane also potting three goals. Keith and fellow defenseman Brent Seabrook added two goals and Seabrook finished with six points despite missing three games due to suspension for a hit to the head in Game 2. As expected, the duo of Keith and Seabrook logged a ton of minutes. Keith was on the ice for nearly 30 minutes a game, while Seabrook averaged 27 minutes and 41 seconds of ice time. Hell need to maintain his discipline in Round 2. Chicago also had the best penalty kill percentage coming out of the first round, limiting St. Louis to two goals on 29 chances. Crawford, meanwhile, settled down after a rough start to keep the Blackhawks chances of becoming the first repeat champions since the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings alive. Rocked for eight goals in the two losses, Crawford followed up his third career postseason shutout by yielding just six goals on 98 shots over the final three games. He ended the series with a 2.03 goals against average and .926 save percentage. The Wild survived Round 1 despite playing from behind seemingly the whole time during their quarterfinals matchup with the Central Division champion Colorado Avalanche. A road team did not win a game in the series until Minnesotas 5-4 victory in Game 7. In that contest, the Wild overcame four one-goal deficits, getting a game-tying goal with 2:27 left in regulation before Nino Niederreiters tally 5:02 into overtime. Niederreiters second goal of the game capped the latest comeback of the series for the Wild. They trailed 2-0 in the series after losing the first two on the road and then were behind 3-2 ahead of a Game 6 victory. Rookie netminder Darcy Kuemper was seen as the savior at the early portion of the series, relieving Ilya Bryzgalov in Game 2 and going perfect with 14 saves. He then allowed just one goal in total in back-to-back home victories, including a defensive 22-save gem in Game 3. Like the rest of Minnesotas roster, Kuemper showed an ability to bounce back, following up a Game 5 defeat with a 21-save effort in the next game to extend the series. However, Kuemper was forced to exit Game 7 after 51 minutes of action due to an unknown injury and Bryzgalov had to make just one save in 13 minutes and 15 seconds of relief before Niederreiters goal. The injury will leave Bryzgalov as the starter for at least Game 1 of this series and he posted just a 4.25 goals against average and .826 save percentage in his three games that totaled 112:41 of ice time. John Curry, a 30-year-old journeyman, will suit up as Bryzgalovs backup. Curry has seen action in six career NHL games and none in the playoffs. Head coach Mike Yeo said that Kuemper is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury following Fridays morning skate. Minnesota has made it to the playoffs in both seasons since signing forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter to monster contracts and both were solid in Round 1. Parise had three goals and seven assists, tying him with three other players -- two of those on the Avalanche -- for the postseason lead in points. Mikko Koivu was second on the club with six points off a goal and five helpers. Suter, meanwhile, averaged 29:47 of ice time and had a goal with three assists to lead Wild defensemen in points. Thirteen different skaters scored a goal for the Wild against the Avalanche, with Charlie Coyle matching Parise for the team lead with three. Youngsters Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund added two each along with veteran Kyle Brodziak, while blueliners Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella also scored twice. Kuemper won his only start versus Chicago this season, stopping 33-of-34 shots faced at home in January, while Bryzgalov took a shootout loss in Chicago. Bryzgalov is 8-6-5 with a 2.51 GAA lifetime versus the Blackhawks. Crawford, meanwhile, went 2-2-0 with a 2.98 GAA in four games versus the Wild this season. Kane had three goals and two assists versus the Wild in 2013-14 Toews, though, was held to just a pair of assists. Parise had two goals against Chicago in the season series, while Suter had three assists and Granlund four helpers. Randy Johnson Jersey . Joakim Nordstrom and Garret Ross also scored for Chicago and Corey Crawford made 30 saves. Tomas Tatar scored twice for Red Wings (2-3-0), Jonathan Ericsson added a goal and Gustav Nyquist had three assists. Custom Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys .Y. - Islanders forward Anders Lee has been fined $2,286 by the NHL for elbowing St. http://www.diamondbackssale.com/ . Price also posted the longest shutout sequence since 1960 at 164:19 minutes. He stopped a combined 55 shots in Canadas final two games and 70 of 71 shots in Canadas three elimination games, allowing only a breakaway goal to Lauris Darzins of Latvia. For his efforts, Price was named best goalkeeper by the tournament directorate. Prices outstanding play is marred only by the extremely strong defensive play of Canadas top six defencemen; Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry,Absolutely love your column and love your answers. My question is in the Tuesday night game of Red Wings v. Blue Jackets, Cam Atkinson clearly scored Columbus third goal after the net was dislodged. Im confused how the referees were able to decide that the goal was scored before the net came off when it seemed to clearly come off before the goal crossed the line. Im just wondering how the refs came to their conclusion and if it was correct.Thanks Kerry,Jacob Messing Hi Ref,How can a player score when the net is clearly off the mooring> When the net is off the moorings you cant allow a goal. Maybe get a penalty for moving the net, but no goal. Obviously that was the wrong call, and could mean a missed playoff. Are Referees demoted from the playoffs for these terrible calls? Thanks for your answer.Jim Carmody Jacob and Jim:Thank you for your questions on this unique situation that caused many fans to scratch their heads in amazement as to how a goal can be scored with the net clearly off the moorings. I have two personal experiences to share with you that resulted in the formulation and eventual amendment of rule 63.6 which I hope will clear up any confusion. It was under this specific rule that Referee Chris Rooney correctly awarded a goal to Cam Atkinson of the Columbus Blue Jackets after Atkinsons body contacted the post and knocked off its moorings. I provide you with the history of the rule and the correct application. Rule 63.6—In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions of a defending player, the puck must have been shot (or the player must be in the act of shooting) at the goal prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts. Now for your first history lesson as to how this rule came about. In the mid 1980s I was assigned to work a game in the St. Louis Arena between the Blues and the Edmonton Oilers. On a particular shift the Oiler stars were sustaining incredible pressure in the Blues end zone. It looked like a shooting gallery against Blues goalkeeper Mike Liut as he slid from side to side making one incredible save after another. That is until one stacked-pad-slide by Liut took the tender well outside of his goal crease. The rebound came right onto the stick of Glenn Anderson standing all alone in the middle slot. As Anderson was about to trigger a shot into the unguarded cage for a sure goal, Blues defenceman Tim Bothwell lifted the net completely off its moorings and began to skate it toward the corner of the rink! Anderson looked puzzled and continued to reposition his feet toward the moving target. Zack Greinke Jersey. I blew the whistle and assessed a delay of game penalty to Bothwell. The Blues killed the penalty and a "sure goal" by Anderson had been averted. I made a rule proposal that was adopted to allow the ref to award a goal if the net was deliberately displaced by a defending player and the attacker shot the puck (or in the act of shooting) and the puck passed through the normal position of the net. The initial rule only applied when the net was "deliberately" displaced. Fast-forward to the modern day NHL and a game I worked in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Sabres. Buffalo created a two-on-one attack with the second Canuck defenceman giving chase. As the attackers approached the net the trailing D made a desperation diving poke-check attempt. The defending players out of control slide knocked the net off its moorings just prior to the shot entering the net. The sure goal had to be disallowed and no penalty could be assessed since the action of the defending player that knocked the net off the mooring was accidental. Due to the fact that a sure goal had been denied through the "actions" of a defending player in both situations (deliberate in St. Louis (80s) and accidental in Vancouver (2000s) the language of the rule was amended to include "accidentally" whenever the specific criteria of rule 63.6 was satisfied. In Tuesdays game Matt Calvert and Cam Atkinson took flight on a two-on-one break with Niklas Kronwall defending and his defence partner, Brendan Smith giving chase from behind. Jimmy Howard made a left pad save on Calverts shot but could not control or freeze the rebound. Atkinson attacked the net from the opposite side and initiated a hard stop at the top-inside of the crease with an opportunity to put the loose puck into the net for a sure goal. As Atkinson was positioning his stick to play the puck (act of shooting) Smith made physical contact with his stick and hip on Atkinson that moved the Blue Jackets player into the goal post and knocked the net off of the moorings. Some will say that the contact exerted by Smith was minimal and insufficient to knock the net off the moorings without some responsibility placed on Atkinson. The replay shows that Atkinsons momentum and forward progress was altered significantly and he accelerated from his initial stop inside the top of the crease after the contact by Smith was initiated and completed. It is also evident that Atkinson attempted to push back and stop following the contact by Smith with a second, separate spray of snow from his skate blade. Referee Chris Rooney made an excellent, quick decision when he correctly applied rule 63.6 to award the goal to Atkinson following the actions of Smith that "accidentally" caused the goal post to be displaced prior to the puck crossing the goal line. Watching this play I saw history repeated. 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