Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Preseason wraps up in Milwaukee against Blues

Chicago Blackhawks (0-4-1) vs St. Louis Blues (2-4-0)
7:00 pm CT – Fiserv Center
TV : CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The Chicago Blackhawks will finally end a disappointing preseason by hosting the St. Louis Blues in Milwaukee. The Blues have two preseason wins, both coming in overtime. One of those was against the Blackhawks last Saturday, as they erased a 2-0 deficit in the third period to win 3-2 in overtime.

We aren’t sure of the exact lineup tonight, as the Blackhawks did not practice this morning, but a slew of players were recalled from the Rockford IceHogs to play. That group is made up of Zach Sanford, Colton Dach, Samuel Savoie, Cole Guttman, Landon Slaggert, Frank Nazar, Ethan Del Mastro, Kevin Korchinski, and Louis Crevier. We know Connor Bedard will be on the top line with Philipp Kurashev and Lukas Reichel. Goaltender Arvid Soderblom will play the entire game.

Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said there was some disappointment in the room after the last two outings against the Minnesota Wild. He usually uses his video sessions to show more positive plays, but he made it sound like today’s meeting was rough for some players. He eluted that the final roster will be set tomorrow so the team can have an intense practice on Monday before flying to Utah for Tuesday’s regular-season opener.

Quotables

“We’re not going to go flying off the handle. There are no points. But you can’t just turn a switch on in this league. You have to be well-prepared, and that has to include us. We did some correcting on the video today. We’re going to take that into Monday and be ready to go Tuesday. I think we’ve worked hard enough in camp. Could we have worked a little smarter? Maybe. That’s what we will ask of them going into Monday and Tuesday. Monday’s practice has got to be the same mental state as Tuesday’s game.” – Richardson on the preseason struggles.

“We expect more of him tonight. If we see it, then he gets more opportunities with those guys. Hopefully, it works well at 5v5 and on the power play.” – Richardson on Reichel with Bedard and Kurashev

“If we can stay healthy, that is definitely the plan. The players have asked for a little bit more accountability. I’m positive and want to show the good things and a couple of correctional things. Today was pretty much all correctional that were directed at specific instances where we’ve got to get better quickly. If we see some of those things continuing at the beginning of the season, we can’t have that. Then someone might miss shifts, or a period, or might not dress.” – Richardson on accountability this season

“Obviously, we’re going to have some guys that are going to get another opportunity that [we assigned to Springfield] earlier in the week, [so we’re] going to see how they get to play, see our younger guys play. Our guys that are with us right now, the seven to eight guys [we’re bringing to Milwaukee], we’re just making sure that we’re playing towards our standards, our work ethic, our commitment, and just doing the right things in what we’re asking of our players.” – Blues head coach Drew Bannister

Blackhawks Preseason Leaders

G-Seven tied with 1
A-Taylor Hall/Connor Bedard (2)
P-Bedard (3)
PPG-Maroon/Bedard (1)
SOG-Bedard (12)

Blues Preseason Leaders

G-Dylan Holloway (3)
A-Nick Leddy/Rob Thomas (3)
P-Holloway/Leddy/Thomas/Kasperi Kapanen (3)
PPG-Holloway/Justin Faulk (1)
SOG- Faulk/Alexandre Texier (11)

Blackhawks Roster

Forwards
Lukas Reichel, Connor Bedard, Philipp Kurashev, Landon Slaggert, Frank Nazar, Colton Dach, Samuel Savoie, Cole Guttman, Andreas Athanasiou, Zach Sanford, Ryan Donato, Joey Anderson

Defensemen
Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, Louis Crevier, Isaak Phillips, Austin Strand

Blues Roster

Forwards
Zack Bolduc, Zach Dean, Dalibor Dvorsky, Mathieu Joseph, Kasperi Kapanen, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Mathias Laferriere, Mackenzie MacEachern, Hugh McGing, Dylan Peterson, Alexey Toropchenko, Nathan Walker

Defensemen
Samuel Johannesson, P.O Joseph, Scott Perunovich, Corey Schueneman, Hunter Skinner, Tyler Tucker

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (Drew Commesso) vs Joel Hofer (Vadim Zherenko)

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