The Chicago Blackhawks played their second exhibition game in two nights on Tuesday, traveling to face off with the Detroit Red Wings. There were few regulars that played in the contest. Per the usual preseason format, few regulars played against Detroit.
Debricant-Strome-Shaw
Caggiula-Entwistle-Smith
Kubalik-Nilsson-Perlini
Fortin-Johnson-Wedin
Dahlstrom-Murphy
Holm-Koekkoek
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First period:
The Wings dominated the first period with physicality and many shots. New Blackhawks goalie Robin Lehner was tested early and often. The defense did Lehner no favors early, allowing a three on one chance in the opening minutes of the game.
Detroit would get the lone tally on a shot from Matt Puempel that Lehner would have liked to have back. Aside from Lehner not allowing more goals, there was nothing really positive for the Blackhawks in the first. The score was 1–0 Red Wings and the shots were 12–5 in favor of Detroit.
Second period:
The second period was better for the Blackhawks. After their lackluster first period, up was the only direction to take for this team. The Blackhawks did face a huge scare to start the second. Alex DeBrincat had went knee to knee with a Wings players in the first period. He would return to bench later in the second period.
The Blackhawks would finally get on the board when Andrew Shaw won a board battle and fed Dylan Strome. Strome made a beautiful pass to Philip Holm, who sniped home the equalizer.
In our best Eddie voice, Philip Holm went “RIGHT DOWN MAIN STREET”! pic.twitter.com/hFcbSGHJai
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) September 18, 2019
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The good feelings from the Holm goal would be short lived. Matthew Ford would beat Lehner on a fluky goal to re-establish the lead for Detroit at 2–1.
Lehner would be removed close to the 30 minute mark. Kevin Lankinen replaced Lehner and was not eased into the game. He faced several high danger chance right off the bat. The Wings would increase their lead to 3–1 on goal late in the period from Chris Terry.
However, the Blackhawks answered back with a goal from Dominik Kubalik.
Consider us big Domink Kubalik fans 🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/B16i72mhBb
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) September 18, 2019
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The second period ended with the Red Wings up 3–2.
Third period:
The Hawks would tie the game on a power play goal early in the period. Kubalik was assisted by Holm on the goal. The shot was a laser past Detroit goalie Calvin Pickard.
Dominik Kubalik is firing lasers tonight! Goal #2 ties the game at 3! pic.twitter.com/BDFYVbQQxu
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) September 18, 2019
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Lankien was tested a couple of times in the third. He looked very good in net, but allowed a late third period goal. To be fair, he had faced 20 shots in 29 minutes of play before allowing the power play goal from Michael Rasmussen.
An empty goal with less than one minute remaining left in intermission sealed it for the Red Wings. The goal was scored by Luke Glendening.
When the final seconds ticked off the clock, Detroit had earned a 5–3 victory.
Quick hits:
A defensive challenger: Philip Holm has been impressive during camp. After a disastrous first period, he responded with a better second period. He tallied the first Blackhawks goal. He also had the assist on the second Kubalik goal.
Dominik who?: Dominik Kubalik looks like he could be a useful player for the team this season. He had two goals on the night.