Morning Chirps: Kevin Korchinski has his worst game of the preseason

The Chicago Blackhawks took a quick flight to St. Paul on Friday for the first of back-to-back games against the Minnesota Wild. Unfortunately, things got out of hand in a hurry as the Blackhawks were blown out 7-2.

Things got off to a good start as the Blackhawks scored first for the second straight contest. Jason Dickinson, making his preseason debut, scored off the rebound from a Seth Jones shot. New captain Nick Foligno had the secondary assist. A Kevin Korchinski turnover led to the first Wild goal by Frederick Gaudreau late in the first.

Minnesota took advantage of another failed clear by Korchinski to score their second goal as Jakub Lauko gave the Wild a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon doubled the lead 30 seconds later by firing a shot through heavy traffic. The Wild added goals by Joel Eriksson Ek, Marco Rossi, and Kirill Kaprisov before Connor Bedard added a power-play goal in the final second of the frame. Spurgeon added a second goal off the glove of Connor Murphy to close out the scoring in the third period.

New Look Third Line Makes a Solid Debut

Foligno and Dickinson have been joined at the hip all training camp long. Head coach Luke Richardson added newcomer Ilya Mikheyev to their line, and the trio got their first game action in Minnesota.

“Chemistry with Nick was already there since we played together last year,” Dickinson said after Tuesday’s morning skate. “Ilya’s come in looking really good. He fits in with all well. He reads the game the same way we do. It’s going to be a simple game plan for us. There is not a whole lot of extra thinking if you will. We know what to expect from one another. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and low plays.”

This combination will be the Blackhawks’ “identity” line. They started the game, which we will see often, and set a tone early with sustained offensive zone time and physicality.

“All three of those guys are very responsible and hard defensive guys,” Richardson said. “Mikheyev brings more speed to that line. He’s hard on the puck. They’re all good penalty-killers and defensive players. But I think they’re guys that when they play against top lines, which we’re going to try and happen most of the year if we can, if the other guys get a little careless or sloppy, they can make them pay. It will be a real two-way line.”

Jason Dickinson with the first goal on CHSN 🚨

(@NHLBlackhawks) pic.twitter.com/aQGxWxSTsA

— Chicago Sports Network (@CHSN__) October 2, 2024

They brought the offense early for the Blackhawks’ first goal. They were the best line for the Blackhawks for the first two periods. They had an 8-2 shot attempt advantage after 40 minutes. They finished the game even at 9-9, so they had a rough third period. That could be expected with Foligno and Dickinson playing in their first preseason game and spending a lot of time killing penalties.

Kevin Korchinski Struggles Mightily for First Time in Preseason

Korchinski has now played in all four preseason games. He was solid in the first three, leading the Blackhawks in ice time on back-to-back nights against the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. Things took a wrong turn for the second-year defenseman as the first two Wild goals came directly off his stick.

On the first goal, he tried to pass the puck to the middle of the ice while the Blackhawks were making a line change. Instead, he should have identified that nobody was in the middle of the ice and used the glass to get the puck out of the zone.

Related Article: Has Kevin Korchinski solidified his spot on the roster?

He looked like he learned that lesson on the second Wild but just failed to execute. He attempted to use the glass to get the puck and just whiffed on the pass. What is more concerning is that nobody picked up Lauko coming down the slot, allowing him to score an easy goal. Turnovers will happen, but there needs to be a better team reaction when they do.

MINNESOTA WILD JAKUB LAUKO pic.twitter.com/nwip35ujNA

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) October 2, 2024

Tuesday was by far Korchinski’s worst game of the preseason. He finished a minus-3 with only two shot attempts. In 17:21 of 5v5 ice time, he was on the ice for 24 shot attempts against and just 9 for. A 27.27 Corsi for percentage (CF%) will not cut it. I don’t think one bad game should punch his ticket for the AHL, but the team now has their biggest reason to send him to Rockford. Hopefully, he is back in the lineup against the Wild on Friday. I want to see how he responds after two days of practice.

Quick Chirps

• Lukas Reichel had yet another ineffective night. He had zero shot attempts, and the team was at a 28-3 shot attempt disadvantage when he was on the ice. His line with Andreas Athanasiou and Taylor Hall was terrible. Right now, there isn’t a place on the NHL roster for Reichel.
• Usually, when you see a goaltender allow seven goals, you will assume he played poorly. It’s hard to say Drew Commesso was awful on Friday night. He made some high-quality saves throughout the night but was left on an island too many times. Arvid Soderblom has the advantage in who will start the season with the team as Laurent Brossoit recovers from a knee injury. Chances are that has been the plan all along.
• In his postgame interview, Foligno said the team started well before falling into “old habits.” There were 13 players dressed who were here last season, so this statement is concerning. We must remember this is still the preseason, where the players use these games to get their legs back and get into game shape. With that said, last night’s game is concerning. They still have a week of practice and two exhibition games to find their groove before the results count.
• Bedard scored the Blackhawks’ second power-play goal of the season with one of his six shots on goal. The second-year star’s most impressive stat was winning eight of 15 faceoffs. If he can improve at the dot this season, he gets more time with the puck.

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