3 Takeaways From Blackhawks’ 3-2 Loss to the Red Wings in 1st Preseason Game

Also, don’t put too much stock in these forward lines. Unless there are big changes throughout the rest of training camp, Bedard is likely slated to play alongside veterans Ryan Donato and Andre Burakovsky, while Nazar will line up with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi.

On defense, don’t forget that Alex Vlasic and Connor Murphy, who didn’t travel to Detroit, are veritable locks on the roster. Nolan Allan could be in the mix as well. We’ll have a better idea of opening night lineups as the preseason progresses. But for this night, it was a lot of youngsters with a huge chance to show their strengths.

Let’s move on to the takeaways.

Blackhawks Offense Couldn’t Find Their Groove

It’s a talented young roster, but an inexperienced one as well. On top of that, none of these guys have much playing time or chemistry together. It showed in this game. Plus, even for youngsters they looked tired after six very full days of an intense training camp.

The Blackhawks gave up 43 shots to the Red Wings, and only managed 17 shots of their own. Yeah, that’s not going to get it done. To their credit, the young group was in the game until the end. Bedard scored a sweet power play goal early in the second period to even the score 1-1.

Rinzel to Bedard off the original faceoff win from Nazar. This is a precursor of good things to come. Bedard ended the night with this goal and 7-of-10 faceoff wins in 20:53 minutes of ice time (TOI).

Nazar, for his part, recorded the above mentioned assist and won 7-of-14 faceoff wins in 19:23 minutes of ice time. The third forward in time on the ice was Lafferty (18:25 minutes, three hits, 2-of-2 faceoff wins), which isn’t surprising seeing as he’s a 30-year-old veteran played among the newbies. His 5:03 minutes on the penalty kill (PK) was second on the team.

Fourth and fifth in ice time were Dach (16:23 TOI, 2 SOG, 6 hits, 1 blocked shot) and Greene (16:21 TOI, 4-of-10 faceoff wins). Both of these players are legitimate candidates to push for a spot on the opening night roster for the Blackhawks.

Blackhawks Young Defense Struggled

The defense pretty much just looked lost all night long, albeit they are getting used to a brand new system. Rinzel led in ice time (24 minutes) for the entire team. He also led the team with five shots on goal, the primary assist on Bedard’s goal, and registered four hits and one blocked shot.

Del Mastro, who lined up next to Rinzel on the top defensive pairing, was second in ice time with 21:42 minutes, along with four hits and one blocked shot. Overall, Del Mastro had a solid night alongside Rinzel. Levshunov registered 20:47 TOI, one hit and one blocked shot. He redeemed some inconsistent play by setting up the second goal with a solid entry and pass to Thompson (Kaiser scored the goal). Here’s the play and the goal. Levshunov is No. 55.

By the way, Moore provided a nice screen in front of the net on this goal. Overall, it’s a work in progress for this very young defensive group.

Soderblom Was a Bright Spot

Despite a porous defense in front of him, goaltender Soderblom (who played the entire game) looked like he was in midseason form in this contest. He stopped a very high volume 40-of-43 shot for a .930 save percentage. The Blackhawks would not have been in this game without their goaltender.

Blackhawks’ new head coach Jeff Blashill was very complementary of Soderblom after this game. “Not just 40 saves, but some really, really good saves. I thought he played excellent. Definitely one-sided if it wasn’t for that. Great job for him. He’s looked solid in camp. All our goalies have looked really good in camp, so that’s a real positive.”

One final thought from Blashill, who didn’t seem too concerned about the Blackhawks’ subpar performance, “Everything’s kind of new, systems are new. We played like we were thinking, and when you think a lot, you kinda play slow.”

The Blackhawks have a scheduled day off on Wednesday, Sept. 24. There will likely be first cuts on Wednesday also, as some of the younger prospects will be sent back to their junior clubs. For everyone else, it’s back to work with practices starting again on Thursday.

Two more contests are slated for the weekend, against the St. Louis Blues Saturday and the Minnesota Wild Sunday (both are away games). Chicago will then host the Red Wings (Sept. 30), Wild (Oct. 3) and the Blues (Oct. 4) to finish out the preseason. Regular season starts on the road, against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 7.

Much more to follow as we continue our training camp and preseason coverage. Many more pieces will be falling into place in the next few weeks, as the Blackhawks continue to work on their fundamentals, systems and culture; as well as determining their opening night roster.