The Chicago Blackhawks lost another preseason game to the Minnesota Wild by another large margin, this time 6-1. Just embarrassing, preseason or not.
The Wild scored on the power play seven minutes into the game, as Marco Rossi went top shelf with a beautiful snap shot.
Four seconds later, Petr Mrazek thought the Wild were going for a dump-in but instead, Jonas Brodin’s shot from the middle of the ice made it into the back of the net to make it 2-0 Wild.
After fairly quiet second period, the Blackhawks finally showed some life when Seth Jones scored a goal with just over a minute left in the middle frame to bring them within one.
The Blackhawks didn’t have much time to celebrate: while on the power play, Mats Zuccarello regained the two-goal lead for the Wild with an absolute snipe. Joel Eriksson Ek was acting as a screen in front.
The Wild then scored three unanswered goals in the third, and the Wild would ultimately win 6-1. Those third-period goals were scored by three different players — Brock Faber, Marcus Johansson, and Krill Kaprizov — with all slightly varying situations, but have one thing in common: they looked effortless.
Much like the Blackhawks in the third, I’m not putting much effort into describing the goals against, but here are the clips:
Notes
I’m going to keep this short because the score basically told the game: the Blackhawks were outplayed, they had no offense, and the Wild cake-walked to another rout. The second period was better than the first and third but, let’s be honest: that was a low bar to step over. And it absolutely felt like the Wild were just cruising versus the Blackhawks actually tightening up defensively. I mean, Chicago immediately gave up a goal against right after they scored, and as I said above, it looked effortless. All of Minnesota’s goals did, really. It’s frustrating.
It is still the preseason, but the dĂ©jĂ vu of last season is hitting hard right now, so it’s understandable that spirits are not high among fans at the moment.
In non-game related news, it sounds like a Comcast/Xfinity deal will happen but that the latter is making it difficult. YouTube TV is probably not happening, which is not great when a decent majority of younger audience members watch through a streaming service, like YTTV.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Mats Zuccarello (MIN) — 1 goal, 2 assists
- Marco Rossi (MIN) — 1 goal, 1 assist
- Joel Eriksson Ek (MIN) — 2 assists
What’s Next
The Blackhawks have no time to lick their wounds: they take on the St. Louis Blues at 7 p.m. at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Saturday night.