It was a different start time for the Chicago Blackhawks, a noon local puck drop as opposed to the late-night fare of the first round. And it was a different Detroit Red Wings team on the other side.

“The guys once they get into it, they don’t mind playing in the afternoon,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said before the game. “We’ve got to come prepared and anticipate a harder game from the first time.”

It officially was, and the series is officially a series. The Hawks sleepwalked all afternoon and third-period scores from Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula put it away for the Red Wings, who notched a 4-1 win in Game 2 and tied the series at 1-1 going into two games in Detroit next week.

Game 3 is Monday night at 6:20 p.m. on 720 WGN and wgnradio.com.

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Dave Bolland is held back from Detroit Red Wings’ Jakub Kindl (4) and Niklas Kronwall. (Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune)

Former Chicago Blackhawks player Eddie Olczyk poses Thursday October 11, 2012 at IceLand, the Niles rink where he began skating. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)

Viktor Stalberg

After this year, if and when the Blackhawks and Red Wings meet in the post season, the Stanley Cup will be on the line. As for now, it was merely a Western Conference semifinal matchup, with third-period scores from Johnny Oduya, Marcus Kruger and Patrick Sharp breaking things open for a 4-1 Blackhawks win and a 1-0 series lead.

A Marian Hossa power-play score followed by a Damien Brunner rebound blast less than two minutes later in the first period made it a 1-1 game, and that score held up well into the third period.

A forecheck by Patrick Kane got the puck trickling to Patrick Sharp, who fed a wide-open Oduya in the slot. The Hawks defenseman walked in and rifled a shot past Jimmy Howard that nicked the iron before crossing in for the 2-1 lead at the 8:02 mark.

Not long after, the Hawks’ fourth line provided some breathing room. Daniel Carcillo chased down a puck that was stuck in the goal netting and then poked it into the crease, where a scrum ensued. Kruger stood by as it trickled out and then flipped a backhander past Howard for a 3-1 lead at 11:23.

Sharp then netted an empty-net score at the 19:11 mark for the clincher.

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon.

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Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa celebrate Hossa’s first period goal against the Red Wings in the first period. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

No quarter, no hope, no doubt: The Chicago Blackhawks vaporized the Wild and escaped the first round of the postseason for the first time in three years.

There was the small issue of Minnesota’s history of rebounding from massive playoff deficits, but it was no issue at all in a 5-1 demolition by the Hawks in Game 5 at the United Center, making it a 4-1 series win and a second-round date with the Sharks or the Red Wings beginning next week.

Marian Hossa scored twice and Marcus Kruger, Andrew Shaw and Patrick Sharp added one goal apiece in an emphatic performance that never permitted the Wild much hope at all of extending to a Game 6. The Hawks had been here before, too, having failed to close out a series on home ice during their Stanley Cup run in 2010, but that bit of history wouldn’t repeat itself Thursday.

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Marian Hossa celebrates with Jonathan Toews after his first period goal against the Wild (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)