The Chicago Blackhawks closed out their 2023 preseason schedule with a Saturday night tilt against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center. With the regular season opener in Pittsburgh just three days away, the Hawks sat most of their regulars, including Connor Bedard and Seth Jones, among others.
The Blues struck first on the power play at 3:52 of the first to take a 1–0 lead. Off the rush, Robert Bortuzzo fed Nikita Alexandrov at the blue line and he skated in alone on Petr Mrazek and beat the Hawks netminder through the five hole.
Less than two minutes later, Robert Thomas gave the Blues a 2–0 lead. Jordan Kyrou took advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Hawks as he skated behind the net and found Thomas in the slot, who shot it past Mrazek to give the Blues a two-goal lead.
The Hawks got one back when a Pavel Buchnevich turnover in the neutral zone led to a Hawks rush. Jordan Binnington made the initial save then swiped the puck directly to Lukas Reichel, who snapped it in to cut the deficit to 2–1 at 14:01 of the first.
LUKAS REICHEL GETS THE HAWKS ON THE BOARD 🏒 pic.twitter.com/IxOIFxcOzE
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At 7:21 of the second period, the Blues regained a two-goal lead. With the Hawks on the power play, Mathias Laferriere skated in 2-on-1 and found Mackenzie MacEachern open to the right of Mrazek and he snapped it in for a shorthanded goal to give the Blues a 3–1 lead.
Just over two minutes later, Thomas scored his second of the game on the power play to give the Blues a 4–1 lead. The Blues had some sustained pressure in the offensive zone and the Hawks could not clear. A scramble in the slot led to Thomas scoring from the left circle to extend the Blues’ lead.
But from there, the Hawks began to make this one interesting. Joey Anderson tipped one home behind a screened Binnington to cut the Blues lead to 4–2. Boris Katchouck took a feed from Kevin Korchinski at the blue line then wristed it toward the net and Anderson’s deflected it in at 10:22 of the middle period.
Joey Anderson cut the lead in half 🙌 pic.twitter.com/wt9DyCqkFz
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The Hawks cut the deficit to 4–3 when MacKenzie Entwistle skated in 1-on-1 with a Blues defenseman, crossed the goal mouth and snuck one past Binnington at the 12:28 mark. A wild second period would end with the Blues holding a one-goal advantage.
GOAALLLLLLLLLLLL 🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/9EFda3KdWv
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It did not take long for the Blues to recapture the momentum early in the third period. At the 1:05 mark, Torrey Krug shot one from the point that was deflected on net by Kevin Hayes and stopped by Mrazek, who left a juicy rebound. Jake Neighbours was all alone in front and lifted a backhand shot into the back of the net to give St. Louis a 5–3 lead and would stay that way until the final buzzer.
Analysis
With a makeshift lineup, the Blackhawks still put forth a strong effort for 60 minutes, which has become a trademark under Luke Richardson. However, an early deficit combined with multiple defensive breakdowns and two power play goals against were too much to overcome for a lineup devoid of offensive threats. The Hawks closed out the preseason with a meaningless record of 2–2–2.
The games begin to count on Tuesday evening when the Blackhawks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. CDT on ESPN with the radio call on WGN 720.