Decent start, eh?
Connor Bedard’s first skate in a Blackhawks sweater at the United Center ended in a 2-1 Blackhawks victory over the St. Louis Blues in the 2023 preseason opener.
After a scoreless first period, the opening goal of the game was scored by Philipp Kurashev in the second period, with the play started by a shot (or maybe a shot-pass?) from Kevin Korchinski that Connor Bedard got a stick on before the puck ultimately ended up on the stick of Kurashev, who neatly worked the puck to his backhand and flipped it into the net:
Robert Thomas tied the game in the middle of the third period, and the score remained in a 1-1 deadlock until overtime. After a flurry of chances in each direction, Andreas Athanasiou ended the night’s festivities with this goal, set up by … who else?
It’s still the preseason, so let’s get knock off the rest of this rust and get to some notes.
Notes
- Kurashev spent most of the game skating with Andreas Athanasiou and Lukas Reichel on what’s probably the second line, but he did get a shift with Bedard and Taylor Hall in the second period. It ended with a goal. More of that, please (the goals … not necessarily the spot on the top line).
- First time seeing Bedard in a Hawks sweater and he delivered with two assists. No goals despite multiple chances, but plenty of moments where the talent was evident. Let’s see some of those instances:
- Also of note: Bedard made several subtle plays in the defensive zone. Korchinski mentioned it in his postgame presser (more on that below) as well. Bedard’s not just a one-trick pony.
Also, he apparently likes hockey:
- The first noticeable ovation of the game went to Corey Perry, which is definitely what was expected. That came after prospect Martin Misiak (who was sent back to juniors after the game) took a hard hit, with Perry and fellow veteran Nick Foligno quickly coming to his aid. It should be noted that the Blackhawks ended up shorthanded after all of this, which is probably not the ideal outcome.
- A secondary assist for Korchinski in his second round of preseason games after skating with Chicago during the 2022 preseason. He and Connor Murphy were together for just about the entire game, an obvious pairing of the defensive-minded Murphy with the more offense-oriented Korchinski. Here’s what Korchinski had to say after skating 21:08, which was the No. 3 mark on the team (trailing only Seth Jones’ 24:45 and Bedard’s 21:20):
(h/t to SCHer Eric Gegenheimer for the footage)
- Wyatt Kaiser played 20:40 and was on the ice for a goal against, with Luke Richardson saying in his postgame presser that Kaiser “got caught a little bit” on the play. But Richardson followed that up later by saying “I thought he skated well tonight,” in reference to Kaiser. Based on the ice time and the fact that he spent playing the entire night with Seth Jones, it sure seems like Kaiser is going to be here for the long haul of the entire season unless there’s a disastrous game or two ahead.
- One particular coaching point that Richardson had for his young blue-liners was that there were too many instances of attempting to play pucks on the backhand when they could’ve stayed on the forehand:
“I think there were times when all of our young D … we were pulling the puck to our backhand and we don’t get a stronger play that way. That’s something for the young defensemen to learn: stay on your forehand as much as possible and make a stronger play.” - There was a palpable buzz inside the UC anytime Bedard had the puck in the offensive zone. The continued existence of that alone will be enough to make this team substantially more watchable than what was on the ice last season.
- Look, it’s just one preseason game, and the Blues sent a team that was probably closer to a “C” or “D” squad than its full-strength lineup. Still, there was plenty to like about this performance. Bedard played well and there are several other youngsters atop the game card below (hey there Kurashev, Korchinski and Nolan Allan). Take the W and move along.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Andreas Athanasiou (CHI) — OT GWG
- Connor Bedard (CHI) — 2 assists
- Philipp Kurashev (CHI) — 1 goal