Less than 24 hours after the trade of Brandon Hagel, it was back to business for the Blackhawks as they took on the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, and quite frankly, I just wanted to see how the Blackhawks would respond. The trade of Hagel came to a shock to some in the locker room, with Jonathan Toews calling it “discouraging” on Friday night, but it was the start of a new era in Blackhawks hockey.
Coming into today’s contest, the Wild had won all three contests between the two teams this season, outscoring the Blackhawks 14-4 in those games. But the Blackhawks weren’t going to roll over this afternoon, as the Wild gunned for the season-sweep.
Kevin Lankinen played his best game of the season, stopping 31 of 33 Minnesota shots, stymying the NHL’s fourth-best offense when it comes to goals per game (3.67) on their home ice. Lankinen’s first goal came in the first period off of the stick of Jordan Greenway, but before the Greenway goal, Lankinen staved off a furious rush by the Wild.
Well before he was just beat by Freddy Gaudreau, Kevin Lankinen made a couple of nice saves of Jordan Greenway. #Blackhawks #MNWild #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/rvuz9VjHuX
— Wally (@WallyMaz18) March 19, 2022
Seth Jones would even things up with 11 minutes and change left in the third period when he beat Cam Talbot with a roof-shot over Talbot’s left shoulder. The goal for Jones was his first since December 2, snapping a 35-game drought for the elder Jones brother. Patrick Kane logged his 50th assist (and 69th point) of the season on the Jones goal that evened things up at one-a-piece.
Ryan Hartman — yeah, that guy — would break the hearts of Blackhawks fans with three minutes and change in this one with this absolute laser beam.
HANG IT IN THE MIA 🖼️🎨 pic.twitter.com/MjJ3fgzj8C
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 19, 2022
That was a heck of a sequence there for Minnesota. Kaprizov dug it out of the corner and hit Zuccarello with a centering pass that set up the nearly un-defendable one-timer from Hartman.
An empty-netter for Minnesota made it 3-1 with six seconds left, and that would be all she wrote this afternoon as Minnesota sweeps the Blackhawks 4-0 in the season series. But again, Kevin Lankinen played as good as he has all season today and newcomer Boris Katchouk nearly potted his first goal in a Blackhawks sweater on this beauty of a reception on a long pass.
Wow what a reception by Boris Katchouk (#14 in white) Gets hooked but it doesn't get called. Great chance for him. #Blackhawks #MNWild #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/UUnJraJHKs
— Wally (@WallyMaz18) March 19, 2022
Katchouk was hooked, but it wasn’t called, and Talbot stopped the chance to keep the game in favor of Minnesota at the time. Katchouk logged two hits and two shots in 12:24 of ice time in his Blackhawks debut. Taylor Raddysh logged five hits in 15:03 in his Blackhawks debut, and rookie Alex Vlasic was essentially non-existent in his six minutes of action in his NHL debut.
The Blackhawks will be back in action tomorrow night in Winnipeg. Hopefully, all three of the new guys will be in the lineup again because it’s prospect watching time for the foreseeable future in Chicago. Embrace it because that’s where we’re at now.
You can find the complete box score here!
