Graham Knott and Radovan Bondra each scored in the third period, but it wasn’t enough for the Chicago Blackhawks to overcome a three-goal deficit in a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild in the third-place game at the 20th annual prospect tournament Tuesday in Traverse City, Michigan.
Darian Pilon, Alexander Khovanov and Mitch McLain each scored for Minnesota against Kevin Lankinen, who made 19 saves in the loss. Wild goaltender Dereck Baribeau stopped 23 of 25 shots for his first victory of the showcase.
The Columbus Blue Jackets won the tournament with a 7-4 win over the host Detroit Red Wings. The Blue Jackets went undefeated during the tournament with a 4-0 record.
McLain scored his first goal just 2 minutes, 27 seconds into the game on an odd-man rush with the Darian and Drake Pilon.
The Pilon twins and Mitch McLain get things going early for the #mnwild prospects. A greasy, quarter pounder from McDonald’s. Up 1-0 pic.twitter.com/JYbP4fZ8UJ
— Jake Jensen (@myhockeyeyes) September 11, 2018
The Hawks killed off a 5-on-3 power play, but Chicago was unable to kill off Dylan Sikura’s delay of game penalty as Khovanov doubled the Wild’s lead with a deflection in front of the net.
Gerry Fitzgerald picks up the garbage in front of the net and makes it 2-0 #mnwild. His 6th point of the tourney pic.twitter.com/NdmGiRvprf
— Jake Jensen (@myhockeyeyes) September 11, 2018
Drake Pilon then chipped the puck into the zone, recovered the puck behind the net and found McLain open in front midway through the second for a 3-0 advantage.
A hell of an individual effort from Drake Pilon leads to a wide-open, yawning cage for Mitch McLain. 3-0. Bada bing, bada boom 🥅 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/mPpKVOGAzA
— Jake Jensen (@myhockeyeyes) September 11, 2018
After trailing 12-5 in shots on goal, Chicago was able to turn the tide with seven shots in the second frame while limiting the Wild to only two.
Defenseman Adam Boqvist, who was selected eighth overall by Chicago in this year’s draft, nearly put the Hawks on the scoreboard by slicing through the offensive zone but his shot was stopped. Knott redirected a shot from Victor Ejdsell on the power play to trim the deficit to 3-1. Bondra added a goal when he skipped a loose puck into the net.
Center Philipp Kurashev, a 2018 fourth-rounder, also had a strong showing for the second straight game with his ability to bounce off defenders and control the puck.
Chicago went 2-2 in the tournament after winning it last year, and have gone 7-9 in Traverse City since joining the tournament field in 2015.
The Hawks prospects will return to Chicago to join the rest of the organization for the team’s training camp, which begins at 10 a.m. Friday at MB Ice Arena.