By Chris Block
The Blackhawks opened the preseason Monday night with a 4-3 overtime loss at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Aleksi Saarela, Alex Nylander and Adam Boqvist notched the goals for Chicago while Collin Delia played the full game in net and stopped 25 of 29 Capitals’ shots.
Nylander was mostly impressive in his first look in a Blackhawks’ sweater, adding an assist on Saarela’s re-direct tally in the opening frame.
Washington dressed a group void of most of its anticipated roster, aside from Tom Wilson, who won the game with an individual effort in the three-on-three overtime.
Ryan Carpenter, John Quenneville, and Anton Wedin also made their team debuts. Kris Versteeg, who is pegged for a veteran spot on the Rockford IceHogs roster, was in the lineup as well.
Game rundown, in, and post-game analysis below….
Blackhawks lineup Mon Sept 16 at Washington
60-Collin Delia – [90-Matt Tomkins backs up – DNP]
Defense
68-Slater Koekkoek / 56-Erik Gustafsson
39-Dennis Gilbert / 27-Adam Boqvist
74-Nicholas Beaudin / 63-Carl Dahlstrom
Forward lines
92-Alex Nylander / 64-David Kampf / 28-Aleksi Saarela
11-Brendan Perlini / 22-Ryan Carpenter / 47-John Quenneville
57-Anton Wedin / 36-Matthew Highmore / 95-Dylan Sikura
45-Dylan McLaughlin / 67-Jacob Nilsson / 32-Kris Versteeg
D-41-Joni Tuulola made the trip but was a healthy scratch.
FIRST PERIOD
Hawks 1-0 at 7:20 of 1st
Gustafsson one-timer off a Nylander short pass off half-wall is ruled to be tipped slightly by Aleksi Saarela. Hard shot beat Pheonix Copley, who was off his angle slightly, being distracted a bit with Saarela having some presence in front of the Capitals net, though he was pushed off to the side by Tyler Lewington by the time the shot came on net. Saarela got his stick on the shot as it came through, but it appeared he may not have even needed the redirection. The entire sequence began when Gustafsson was first to the Caps’ dump into the Hawks’ end. Gustafsson turned that puck quickly and made a nice short exit pass to Nylander, who was quickly jumped on by the Caps, but managed to move the puck up to Kampf, who gained the zone and held, skating all the way around the Caps’ net and back out front where the Hawks had a nice series of short, quick passes between Dennis Gilbert, who had just come on a change, and Nylander and Gustafsson. Everyone on the ice had a hand in this goal, but Gustafsson was a cut above as the best player on the ice here as he made this one look easy. Saarela being in front definitely played a big factor in the goal whether his redirection mattered or not.
A couple minutes later, Versteeg couldn’t capitalize off a Caps’ turnover at center and was stuffed on a breakaway. Versteeg doesn’t move very well.
With nine minutes left in the first, Gustafsson to the box for hooking Garnet Hathaway from behind in the circle to Delia’s right after a sequence that began with Carpenter losing an offensive zone faceoff.
PK
64-36. 39-63
22-57, 68-63 – thirty seconds in, d-zn faceoff Dahlstrom stays on
64-95, 39-27
67-32, 74-63
SECOND PERIOD
-Foley and Olczyk discussing Nylander and his skills. Foley asked if Alex reminds Eddie of his father, Michael Nylander. Alex compares closer to his father than he does his brother in Toronto. He skates better than his father but not by much.
1-1 – Capitals tie the game
Rough shift for Adam Boqvist. First, he tried to push a rush up the ice but lost the puck. Then, back in the defensive zone, Boqvist had his stick lifted from behind by Chandler Stephenson in the circle to Delia’s right. Boqvist then tried to hold Stephenson, got away with that but stopped moving his feet and Stephenson peddled away from him. A one-timer attempt by Tyler Lewington was then fanned on, creating a broken play of sorts and the loose puck found its way to Damien Riat in front of the net. Rait was able to putt that into the mostly vacated goal as Delia had slid off to his left to front what he thought would be a shot attempt from Connor McMichael, but McMichael was falling down with his back to the net and wisely centered the puck to the top of the crease as he fell and only Matthew Highmore was there for the Hawks and he couldn’t stick check Riat in time. Delia was a little over aggressive here and Boqvist again proving less than adequate in his own end.
-No look backhanded exit pass attempt from Gustafsson 3:30 into second is picked off. This is the kind of stuff Gustafsson can’t help himself from doing – high-risk, low reward moves that too often become unforced errors that wipe out his contribution to a goal for elsewhere within the game. This time it didn’t cost him partly because the Hawks were facing a roster of mostly AHL players.
2-1 Blackhawks
Chicago regains the lead when Boqvist makes a nice read and exposes a gap in the Caps’ coverage when he finds Alex Nylander going to the front of the net. Boqvist lines up for a shot from the right point, but saucers a feed to the top of the crease as Nylander arrives and Alex makes a fine forehand-backhand move and beats Copley. Give credit to Nylander for going to the net when he found himself behind the goal line, and noticing the Caps defense had lost track of him.
Delia stoned Nic Dowd with the left glove hand from fifteen feet at 4:48 of the period to hold the one-goal lead. Great stop by Delia moving right to left even if Dowd could have released that shot a slit second sooner and had a better chance.
PK – Perlini to the box for holding the stick in the offensive zone. Perlini had skated into a check and lost the puck in the same spot seconds earlier in the shift.
64-36, 68-63
22-57, 68-63
64-95, 39-27
2-2 Capitals PPG
Some sustained zone time here for the Caps turned into a scoring play when David Kampf was knocked to the ice by Damien Riat with a nice check along the boards competing for a loose puck. With Kampf out of the play, it was essentially five on three and the Caps quickly converted when they got the puck to Travis Boyd on the weak side in the left circle. Boyd beat Delia clean by the glove. Boqvist had a couple defensive stops here before the breakdown, looking as good as he’s looked in his own end as a pro to date. For as impressive a physical specimen Kampf is, he has next to no skill. After two years, you’d think the Blackhawks would have realized that by now. The Hawks had a rush off a Boqvist steal moments earlier, but Kampf lost the puck as he entered the Caps’ zone with Sikura coming. It really speaks to the state of the Blackhawks that Kampf was even re-signed and is in the conversation for a roster spot again. He is not an NHL caliber player yet he’s back.
3-2 Capitals
Kampf can be directly blamed for this goal. Kampf had his man, Aliaksei Protas, at the Hawks’ net, but Kampf inexplicitly left him and went for a skate around the net as Protas was redirecting a Beck Malenstyn pass. Delia stopped the initial attempt, but shoveled the puck right back to Protas, alone on the doorstep, who beat Delia by the right pad on the second chance. Embarrassingly bad play here by Kampf. Protas is a big man with good touch.
3-3 Boqvist shows off his skills and ties the game
Boqvist pinches down into the right circle here as a Dylan Sikura shot deflects off Highmore at the net and slips a Cap to take the loose puck and wheel around the cage, then rip a shot far side over Copley’s left shoulder as the goalie hugged the near post. Boqvist had to settle a puck that bounced to him about knee high then flatten it out as he wheeled, elude a defensemen’s stick check and get his shot off – perfectly placed and now the game is tied. Foley and Olczyk spent a lot of time praising how Sikura slid back to the right point position when he noticed Boqvist had pinched down.
THIRD PERIOD
Hawks to PP with 7:52 to go – Kampf pulled down by his pants behind the Caps’ net by Jonas Sigenthaler.
11-92-32, 95-56 – Perlini net front here, Versteeg middle of umbrella setup
47-57-28, 74-27 – this shift less organized but meant to be Saarela in front, Wedin slot
-Capitals to the Power Play with 2:48 to play in regulation. – Hawks too many men – Perlini serves.
64-22. 68-63 – Kampf loses draw in left circle, Caps pin in zone for good thirty seconds before Dahlstrom eventually gets a puck behind the net and clears around empty far wall.
36-95, 68-39
64-22, 39-63
3-on-3 OVERTIME
64-92-56
22-92-56
22-11-27
57-95-74 – Beaudin prevents wraparound goal try by Brandon Leipsic
64-95-74 – Sikura & Beaudin stay on for long shift here as couldn’t get to bench safely for a long change
4-3 CAPITALS WIN
Tom Wilson simple rush up left side, skates right around Sikura on his backhand, cuts to the net and beats Delia by the left pad inside the far post. Tough spot there for Sikura to be in, a forward trying to play defenseman against big Tom Wilson. Wilson made him look like an amateur.
Official Box Score
Event Summary
Final thoughts and impressions
-Gustafsson and Boqvist stood out as the best Hawks in preseason game one. Nylander showed good awareness and hands as well, but his deficiencies were also present as well. Nylander doesn’t have a pull away gear. Thus, he has to make quick reads and advance the puck if he’s not in a position to shoot because he’s easily checked otherwise. That’s not necessarily an all-bad thing. The Blackhawks need to play at a higher pace than they have in recent years. They can do that with a combination a quicker players and those, like Nylander, who can process the scene and move the puck at a quicker pace. This makes Nylander an intriguing asset and is likely why Bowman pulled the trigger on his acquisition. The problem with Nylander is he has an inconsistent motor and if he’s not paired with others who are quicker and can consistently win puck battles, he will be less of a factor. Nylander almost has to be on a power play unit if he is on the NHL roster to get the most out of his ability. The top five power play forwards are certainly going to be Kane, Toews, DeBrincat, Strome and Saad. If Colliton loads up his first power play again with four forwards, I suppose that increases the odds Nylander fits in on the second unit. If he makes the team out of camp, it may hinge on whether the Hawks believe he can contribute on that second unit. If Colliton splits units to something like Strome and DeBrincat on one and Toews and Kane on the other, you’d think it would be a harder road for Nylander since certainly Saad and Andrew Shaw are certain for those other spots. Nylander could work the point, but I don’t think having Nylander back there is a good idea considering his skating. Of course, he has to make a case with a strong camp for any of this to be considered. What Nylander has going for him is a GM that needs a win when it comes to the off-season trade that made Nylander a Blackhawk. So, we should expect he will get every opportunity to pay dividends for Stan Bowman.
-Gustafsson, Carpenter and Versteeg wore the alternate captain ‘A’s in this game.
-2019 1st round pick Kirby Dach apparently is being held out of at least the first three preseason games as part of concussion protocol.
–Philipp Kurashev is also out with injuries also suffered in the final game of the prospect tourney in Traverse City a week ago.
-Carpenter was 8 for 13 overall in faceoffs. Kampf was 5 for 12. Highmore 3 for 8.
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