Buck Stops in Milwaukee: Wild 3, Blackhawks 0

Oct 3, 2022 - 2:37 AM

The Chicago Blackhawks lost their second straight preseason game 3-0 Sunday night, this time to the Minnesota Wild at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

It was scoreless after the first, although Seth Jones had a near goal late in the period that Marc-André Fleury got just enough of to knock the puck away.

The Wild opened the scoring just over four minutes into the second period. While on the powerplay, Max Domi’s flubbed pass was picked off by Connor Dewar for a shorthanded goal to put the Wild up 1-0.

The Blackhawks did have some decent zone time and rush opportunities in the second period, but not a lot of shots on goal to show for it. A prime example is the 3-on-1 below where Andreas Athanasiou decided to pass back to Patrick Kane instead of either attempting a shot himself or passing to a much more open Max Domi.

The top line combined on the power play for one of the Blackhawks only other decent looks as well late in the second — see below — but otherwise the period was almost entirely controlled by the Wild.

Like last night, the third period is really where it went off the rails for the Blackhawks as the Wild scored two more goals: another shorthanded goal (this time by Matt Boldy) and then an even-strength goal by Brandon Duhaime,

And, so, the Blackhawks fell 3-0 to the Wild.

Notes

• Poor Milwaukee fans. The Blackhawks had just 12 shots on goal compared to the 33 for the Wild. We all know the Blackhawks aren’t likely to win a lot this season — which is The Tank Plan™ — but this was gross.
• Chicago is going to have enough trouble in that regard without legit NHL veterans over deferring to Kane like Athanasiou did in the 3-on-1 above. Athanasiou probably didn’t have a good shot there — Fleury was straight on and huge in net — but Domi was open on the other side and the Wild defender would have had trouble blocking the pass. Anything other than passing back to Kane.
• One caveat tonight is that the Blackhawks were playing with several prospects and AHL-bound players. But, honestly, head coach Luke Richardsons has his work cut out for him in terms of getting goals out of the regular lineup. I mean, they went 0-for-6 on the power play with a few players expected to be on the top unit this season.

• There weren’t nearly as many turnovers this game as the last, but two big ones — Domi’s flub on the power play and Kane’s on the third goal against — ended up in the back of the net. Still, baby steps.
• Oh the bright side, Mrázek was fine in net for the most part. He had a .955 save-percentage in the first two periods. He finished at .909, but it could have been much worse with the shot differential.
• Savoie really does like to throw his weight around. Once he works out his timing a bit more consistently — something he improved on last season in juniors already — this is a good asset in a player like him.

• Small sample, but Korchinski is already one of the best skaters the Blackhawks have had in recent memory. Kid can fly and puck handle like a pro at top speeds.
• Caleb Jones left the game in the third period after taking a hard hit along the board. He was holding his shoulder while on the bench before heading to the locker room. Richardson said Jones was going to be evaluated further on Monday.

• Before the game even started, the Blackhawks announced a couple of ankle injuries: Boris Katchouk is expected to miss approximately 4-6 weeks with an ankle sprain and Jujhar Khaira is day to day with an ankle injury. Connor Murphy has also missed the last two games and a practice due to back soreness.

Game Charts

No game charts are available from this game.

What’s next?

After several days off, the Blackhawks will face the Minnesota Wild again but this time in St. Paul. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday night.