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Hold Me Down: Wild 3, Blackhawks 2

Only one game left before the results start to count.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Talia Sprague-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks saw a two-goal lead slip away as the Minnesota Wild scored three unanswered power-play goals, handing Chicago a 3-2 loss on Friday night in their second-to-last preseason game.

The Blackhawks struck first at 6:25 of the opening period. Wyatt Kaiser broke up a play at the blue line, Teuvo Teravainen carried it in, and Tyler Bertuzzi set up Frank Nazar, who finished with a quick wrister for the 1-0 lead.

Nick Foligno extended the Blackhawks lead to 2-0 midway through the first. After some nice cycling around the perimeter, Foligno redirected Sam Rinzel’s point shot off Filip Gustavsson’s arm and in.

A second period spent mostly on special teams saw the Blackhawks lose their lead, as the Wild scored three consecutive power-play goals.

First, Vladimir Tarasenko received a diagonal cross-ice pass from Matt Boldy then whipped a shot from the center of the left circle into the top corner, pulling the Wild to within one at 2:29 of the second.

Next, Zeev Buium set up Boldy, whose long shot deflected off Andre Burakovsky and Joel Eriksson Ek into the net, tying the game 2-2 just over nine minutes into the second. Boldy was left open thanks to Tarasenko, who drew Blackhawks away at the top of the zone with a sneaky stick tap.

Finally, another deflection gave the Wild a 3-2 lead with 1:12 remaining in the second. Kirill Kaprizov fed Ryan Hartman in the slot from behind the net, and Hartman’s wrist shot along the ice deflected off Wyatt Kaiser’s stick past Spencer Knight.

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks were unable to rally in the third, even with a strong late-period push, falling 3-2 to the Wild.

Notes

Despite the Blackhawks scoring twice, the Wild had slightly better play in the first period at 5-on-5, with the Blackhawks owning just 38.46 percent of the shot attempts, 28.57 percent of the shots on goal, and 31.05 percent of the expected goals. The Blackhawks did have some highlight-worthy moments while pushing offensively and some near misses that could have resulted in more goals, but they also had too many one-and-done plays while the Wild did a good job of being disruptive.

The second period is harder to judge because more than half of it (12:10) was played on special teams. At 5-on-5, the two teams were basically even — 5-5 in shot attempts, 4-4 in shots on goal, and 2-2 in scoring chances — but the Blackhawks’ penalty kill struggled, and the Wild got some help from Lady Luck, especially on the third goal against. Still, the Blackhawks weren’t able to consistently prevent the Wild from setting up on the power play quickly and efficiently for dangerous chances. The Blackhawks had decent power plays themselves but were disrupted, blocked, and kept farther out more efficently. The Wild ended up with eight shot attempts and six shots on goal in just over five minutes on the power play, while the Blackhawks had five attempts and three shots in four minutes.

Trailing by one, it’s not surprising that the Blackhawks pushed hard in the third period. They had an especially impressive surge about five minutes into the period and as the game was closing, it honestly looked like they might tie it. At 5-on-5, the Wild responded well defensively, allowing only six of the Blackhawks’ 14 shot attempts to reach the net, but the Blackhawks did quite well getting shots through with the extra attacker, posting eight shots on goal in just over two minutes at the end of the game. Only two of the shots were high-danger by location, but they had seven scoring chances overall in those last few minutes, which is strong. In the end, the shot stats very much favored the Blackhawks in the third — 66.67 percent of shot attempts, 60 percent of shots on goal, and 78.52 percent of expected goals — but it wasn’t enough to break through the Wild’s defense.

Overall, this wasn’t a terrible game for the Blackhawks, and it might have had a different ending if not for deflections off their own players or if the game had been played more at 5-on-5. The team showed high effort and had some really nice moments, but they still need to work on maintaining possession at even strength and finding the right balance between being aggressive on the penalty kill while staying in control.

Learning a new system and how to do things is never easy, though captain Nick Foligno believes the team is picking up what coach Jeff Blashill is teaching well while the coach himself felt this was a strong game offensively:

This isn’t fully showing up in the games, at least defensively and in terms of possession, but they have definitely improved since the stinker of a first preseason game against Detroit.

Looking at who did well in this game, the first name that comes to mind is Nazar, who scored his fourth goal of the preseason. His line with Teravainen and Bertuzzi struggled in terms of shot possession, being out-attempted 10-5 and outshot 6-2, but their expected goal share was closer, with them owning 45.36 percent. Still not ideal, but it kept things relatively close. Nazar’s goal was also his only shot at 5-on-5, though he set up his linemates often in this game, including all three of Bertuzzi’s attempts. Nazar had two other shots on goal on the power play and during the 6-on-5. Teravainen had some issues getting his shots through this game: he had five attempts overall, but only one was on net and none at 5-on-5.

Connor Bedard also looked sharp although, like Nazar, many of his best chances came with the extra attacker. He led the team with nine attempts and seven shots on goal, but only three of those attempts and one of the shots were during 5-on-5 play. His line with Burakovsky and Ryan Donato was also underwater most of the night — 42.11 percent of shot attempts, 33.33 percent of shots on goal, and 30.72 percent of expected goals — but they did have some strong individual moments. The Blackhawks trio most often faced the Wild’s third line with Hartman and Marcus Johansson, which isn’t necessarily a checking line, but they were deployed that way tonight.

Sam Rinzel had another strong offensive outing: he led the team in shot attempts (5) and shots on goal (3) at 5-on-5 and tied for the team lead in attempts (9) and shots on goal (6) in all situations. His offensive instincts looked very natural this game, even if he still has some timing issues to work through. Defensively, he was a bit weaker than in previous games, but nothing egregious. Many of the issues seemed timing-related and should improve with experience.

Kaiser also had several outstanding moments, both offensively and defensively. There was, of course, his smart stick at the blue line to break up a Wild zone entry ahead of Nazar’s goal, but he had several other strong defensive plays at the blue line. He was effective in retrievals, board play, and maintained good positioning. His transition and passing plays were consistently on point. If not for his accidental deflection on the Wild’s third goal, Kaiser played a nearly flawless game overall.

Kaiser and Artyom Levshunov were arguably the best defensive pair in the first period, though they started to get buried more as the game went on, despite it not really being their fault. This was Levshunov’s best full game of the preseason, albeit also his quietest. He still had some roaming moments, but they were less frequent as he focused more on defense. His offense was quieter as well, though he finished with five attempts and two shots on goal, including one that would have been a sure goal if not for an incredible stick save by Gustavsson.

The Blackhawks definitely played more physical as the game progressed, though they actually had fewer total hits — just 16 compared to the Wild’s 22 — even if their hits were generally bigger. Connor Murphy led the team with four, two of which were huge, while Colton Dach and Nolan Allan had three and two hits, respectively. While volume of hitting isn’t particularly impressive, the way these three played physically was effective in disrupting opposing plays, which is the goal — smart physicality. Allan having another above average outing may mean Ethan Del Mastro is the young defender on the outside looking in, a reverse from what was expected prior to training camp.

Finally, this was another outing in which Knight looked good, even if it’s not reflected in his .889 save percentage. He made several nice saves throughout the game, did well in preventing second chances, and was only beaten by three deflections that were mostly out of his control.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Valdimir Tarasenko (MIN) — 1 goal
  2. Joel Eriksson Ek (MIN) — 1 goal
  3. Frank Nazar (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks wrap up their preseason with one final game on Saturday, hosting the St. Louis Blues at 6 p.m. Expect the Chicago lineup to look more like a Rockford one in that game.

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