On Friday, the Wild begin just their third Western Conference semifinal series since the team’s inception in 2000, meeting the Chicago Blackhawks for Game 1 at United Center. The man who led Minnesota to their first, Jacques Lemaire, is watching from a distance.

“They’re doing pretty good,” Lemaire said Wednesday. “Obviously, you need a goalie that makes the saves, but since they have it, they’ve got a chance to win every game.”

Devan Dubnyk, in fact, might be the NHL’s hottest goaltender. In 2003, when Lemaire’s team advanced to Minnesota’s only conference final, the Wild ran into that year’s hottest goalie, Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who went on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy after a 4-3 loss to New Jersey in the final.

Lemaire was Minnesota’s first coach — Mike Yeo is the third — and coached them to their lone division title in 2007-08. Now working as a consultant for the New Jersey Devils, where he won a Cup as coach in 1995, Lemaire still watches and analyzes hockey every day during the season, and still loves it.

An eight-time Cup winner as a player in Montreal, Lemaire, 69, talked hockey, coaches and old players — including the late Derek Boogaard, who played four seasons for Lemaire and died of an accidental drug overdose in 2011 at 28 — in a phone interview from his home in Florida.

Q: Do you find the Wild’s game has changed since you were coaching?

A: “I don’t think so, not that much. How they play, they seem to play a little more offense because the type of player they have. They have the type of player that can hold on to the puck, pretty good skaters. Then when they get a chance, they go on the forecheck. But defensively they’re exactly the same; neutral zone — same thing.”

Q: When the playoffs get here, we tend to talk about a team’s style, and matching styles, but I wonder how much of it is really matching players.

A: “It depends on your team. When I was coaching in Minnesota, we were considered a weaker team, so then when you look at your team and feel your team cannot score more goals than the other team, you have to check a top line — guys that are dangerous on the other side. Then you have to match. I remember at a certain time, if their first or second line were going to play against our third or fourth line, we knew it was a matter of time before the puck would go in the net.

“Now, if you have a team that can score as much as the other team, or even more than the other team, you don’t make the match; you have to stay away from the matches from the other coaches — if your team is a better scoring team.

“If you feel you’re pretty even, then you have to look at the players. Automatically, the two coaches will play pretty much line after line and roll the lines. What I’m trying to describe is you have to look at your team and the team you’re playing against. If you have more offense, they match. That’s really important.

“On the road, I used to put a center from another line, let’s say the second line, and wingers from the first line, or the wingers from the fourth line, so if they change, then just my center was coming to the bench. And if the other line was out there, at least the center was there.

“When Wes (Walz) was there with us, I could play that line against anyone. I knew they could play against the top line, tough guys — anybody.”

Q: Was having Wes a luxury?

A: “Oh, yeah. You get a guy that plays really good defensively, a guy that has speed, had his share of goals offensively, definitely.

Q: So, when you made the run in 2003, was that just a constant series of matchups?

A: “Yeah, we had to. We made two lines to play against the top lines; the other guys had to change. The other two matched up.”

Q: Is that exhausting or did you enjoy it?

A: “Oh, I loved it. I loved it. To me, it’s coaching. You look at every aspect of the game, every angle, you have to find something to do to get a little edge.”

Q: Do you look back on that season and think, we really accomplished something there?

A: “Sure! Definitely. But when I think about, I think about the players, I don’t think about the coaching staff and what we did. I think about the players how they played, how they performed, you know. They had to be at their best, and they were.

“When we played against Colorado, as an example, at the start of the series, in our mind as coaches, we wanted to win one game as quick as possible to see how it’s going to go. We just wanted to win one game. We thought that team was really strong, great players, and Patrick Roy in the net, had won the Cup a couple years earlier. It was still a great team.

“And then us, we’re thinking, let’s not get too excited here. But when you do win one game, now you want two. You want to keep going. We were in Minny in Game 6, if I recall. The series was 3-2 for them. I told the guys, ‘Hey, just win this game. The other game will take care of it.’ You go back (to Denver) and they felt they would win, but we came out with the game.

“We didn’t want to get beat in four, that’s the thing. Then you win a game, you should win two. You go on like that.”

Q: I always thought the team that lost to Anaheim (in 2006) was a good team. What do you think was your best team in terms of talent?

A: “Anaheim was a good team, and the team we had to run out was pretty good, too — as they proved. Everyone had to work hard and believe and be together. Against Anaheim, we had a lot of good chances, and then we lost Kim Johnsson in that scrum there (he was knocked out by a Brad May punch). That really put us in a hole. He was our best defenseman.”

Q: That was a cheap shot, too.

A: “For no reason. Guys were pushing. That really was hard for us. I always think about if Johnny would be there, I don’t know what would have happened. Maybe we would have beat them.”

Q: So what are you doing for the Devils?

A: “Consulting. I really enjoy it. It’s fun to talk about the game, talk about the players, stay involved in every game. Every night I’ve got a game.”

Q: Do you look ahead, then?

A: “No. Coaches don’t really need pre-scouting. They have four assistant coaches, sometimes five with the goalie coaches; everyone can pick a game, go see if they’re do anything different from the last time you played. It doesn’t take hours.”

Q: How much do you watch the Wild?

A: “I get periods here and there, but because they always play late, and I’m getting older, I have to go to bed! Sometimes after our game, I go look. In the playoffs, I looked a little more, but there’s not too many guys left from that team.”

Q: Two guys, I think. Do you still feel like a piece of that team is yours? You and Doug (Risebrough) started that team.

A: “It’s funny. I feel a little bit like that; it’s still our team. The thing is, when you move to another team, you look at your team so much. Like Montreal, I don’t look at Montreal that much more in the playoffs, and during the season I don’t look at them any more than I look at Tampa, as an example, because I’m here. No. 1 is New Jersey, then I look at Tampa because I see people here, I meet people here, we talk about the game, what Tampa did last night, all that . When you have two teams you’re looking at like that, there’s not a lot of minutes left for the other ones.”

Q: Do you still talk with Doug?

A: “We stay in touch, pretty much every month.”

Q: I wanted to ask you about Derek Boogaard …

A: “I could not believe it. I couldn’t believe it. You know, as coaches, there are certain things you don’t know are happening; you only see it if it’s before your eyes, when you’re there. I’m not a guy to get in their personal life. If he needs help, I’m there — as much as anybody. But if the guy doesn’t open, I won’t dig. I’m not that type.

“I respect everybody’s life; I just hope what they’re doing is the right thing. But when I hear that (I think), ‘Holy cow, I was missing something.’ Especially when you know the guy and know how fun he was and you think about the great moments you spent with him.”

Q: I really liked Boogaard …

A: “Everyone did. Boogey, everyone loved him. He was liked and did everything he could on the ice, that’s why — and at the time I was criticized — I made him a captain. You know back then we had the alternating captains. It was because of his determination and what he tried to do on the ice. If he scored a goal, everyone got excited. If he had an assist, everyone was excited for him. I made him a captain because of his leadership.”

Q: Have the Wild been in touch with you, asked you to come back and do the ‘Let’s Play Hockey’ call or anything?

A: “Yeah, they asked me once, and it was last year against Colorado and I could not make it. But we stay in touch. I’m always in touch with Tom Reid. He has a place here (in Florida) and we always stay in touch. As a matter of fact, I just called him two days ago.

“He asks me all the time: ‘Why don’t you come out? We’ll go to the pub and we’ll talk.’ But I’m too old to travel! I hate travel, I’ve done enough. I go to Montreal in the summer, and I’m telling you, it’s a real job. I don’t want to leave the house. Airplanes, you’re delayed, oh, no, no, no. Maybe it’s because I traveled so much.”

Q: Are you still fishing and sailing?

A: “Was fishing last year but this year I haven’t fished once because, you know, I used to go by myself with the boat and all that, but it’s a little dangerous, too. You know, bad weather, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Because there’s no one to go with me, other guys with time on their hands who want to do a little fishing. So I sold my boat and I only go golfing.”

Q: Is your golf game improving?

A: “Oh, yeah, I’ve got a nice game now, playing in the high-70s.”

Q: We were talking about you the other day because (Ken) Hitchcock was around when the Blues were here and he likes to talk about hockey. He’ll answer anything, like you.

A: “A lot of young guys, it seems they don’t like to talk hockey. They talk only in private about the game. I don’t know where they get their ideas, but they don’t learn it from other guys who have been there. They don’t want to ask us. Maybe they think we don’t know everything, and we don’t! It’s always something new.

“As a matter of fact, (Guy) Boucher, you know, who coached with Tampa Bay, he came back from Europe this year and he called me we sat for hours just talking about the game — different stuff, angles and players. You get guys that want to learn more, hear more. (Detroit coach Mike) Babcock is like that. He wants to talk about the game, learn different stuff. But a lot of young guys, I don’t feel, want the information; I don’t know.

“I would love to talk about the game, but I wouldn’t give my answers to every question. I worked for what I know; I don’t want to give it away!

“I had a lot of fun in Minnesota and enjoyed the press and the fans. We had fun together. Now I have great memories — from home! No traveling.”

Follow John Shipley at twitter.com/shipleykid.