The Chicago Blackhawks secured a 4-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild with Frank Nazar’s hat trick and great teamwork.
The Chicago Blackhawks won 4-1 over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday for back-to-back preseason victories. Frank Nazar scored a hat trick, and Connor Bedard completed a nasty pass for an assist. It’s only a preseason game, but let’s recap the night.
Box Score: Blackhawks 4 – Wild 1
All stats are 5-on-5
Game Notes
Remember when I said not to overreact to the Blackhawks’ 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings because it’s preseason? Yeah, that applies here, too, because the Hawks looked solid last night. The Wild didn’t have a full roster iced (no Kirill Kaprizov), but there was a lot of good that I liked, so let’s get into my notebook.
Frank Nazar
Frank Nazar’s hat trick is the bow tie on a decent sports weekend for Chicago. Two Hawks wins and a Bears victory? There we go. Nazar also made me realize how old I am, apparently his celly on his first goal was a “6 7.” I’m just as confused as you are.
Back to actual hockey talk, Nazar had the second-highest expected goals share on the team with 65.66%, second to Teuvo Teravainen. Nazar and Teuvo were solid together, and it only makes me more upset with Anders Sorensen’s infatuation with Teuvo and Ilya Mikheyev last season.
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Connor Bedard
The kid is faster. The quality of competition wasn’t great tonight, but Connor Bedard had four shots on goal, six shot attempts, and four scoring chances all at 5-on-5. That’s something I would like to see on a nightly basis this season.
Bedard’s pass for Ryan Donato’s goal was nasty, but there were a couple of things that caught my eye. Bedard needs to drive through the middle of the ice more, and it makes me the tiniest bit concerned when he carries through the middle and gets swamped by defense. The other is that he still tends to enter wide and delay to slow the play down. Two very minor preseason concerns.
Artyom Levshunov and Kevin Korchinski
I’m lumping these Kevin Korchinski and Artyom Levshunov together because my take will upset a certain portion of the fanbase. It’s only two preseason games (three for Korchinski), but I’m of the mindset that they should stay on the NHL roster. Both of their numbers are ugly (stay with me). Kevin Korchinski had a 30.56 xG% and a 26 Corsi, and Artyom Levshunov had a 44.63 xG% and a 45 Corsi. But it’s the offensive plays that they made that I have a hard time believing they will create at the AHL level.
First is this play by Korchinski. It might not seem like a lot, but when you have a defenseman joining the rush like Korchinski did and skating in the middle of the ice, you have to like it. I don’t like that Tyler Bertuzzi saw Korchinski was open and didn’t make the pass.
They weren’t horrible in their own end, but Sam Rinzel wasn’t perfect either. Rinzel, who had some great looks in the offensive zone, had a 21.31 xG% and a 30 Corsi. Just because their numbers look gross doesn’t mean they played like it.
Bonus Notes
I was disappointed with Nick Lardis’ game. Lardis only played 12:58 (all situations), had a 17 Corsi, and didn’t register any shots or shot attempts. He was sent down to Rockford on Monday.
Alex Vlasic is day-to-day after an apparent lower-body injury sustained during the game. I didn’t notice what hurt him, but Vlasic missed substantial time in the third period.
Fast-guy Oliver Moore had two shots on goal and two shot attempts.
Drew Commesso made incredible saves and had a solid night with a .966 SV%.
The Blackhawks play three more preseason games, all at home. The Detroit Red Wings come to town at 7 pm CT on Tuesday, Sept. 30.