Kevin Korchinski is having his worst game of the preseason

The Chicago Blackhawks flew quickly to St. Paul on Friday for the first straight game against the Minnesota Wild. Unfortunately, things quickly spiraled out of control as the Blackhawks went on to finish 7-2.

Things got off to a good start as the Blackhawks scored first for the second straight game. Jason Dickinsonwho made his pre-season debut, scored from a rebound Seth Jones Shot. New captain Nick Foligno had the secondary assist. A Kevin Korchinski The loss of possession led to Frederick Gaudreau's first Wild goal toward the end of the first period.

Minnesota capitalized on another missed attempt by Korchinski and scored its second goal as Jakub Lauko gave the Wild a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon doubled the lead 30 seconds later by firing a shot through heavy traffic. The Wild previously added goals from Joel Eriksson Ek, Marco Rossi and Kirill Kaprisov Connor Bedard added a power play goal in the final second of the frame. Spurgeon scored the second goal Connor Murphy to tie the score in the third period.

New Look Third Line makes a solid debut

Foligno and Dickinson were linked at the hip throughout training camp. Head coach Luke Richardson added a new addition Ilya Mikheev to their line, and the trio got their first game action in Minnesota.

“The chemistry between Nick has been there since we played together last year,” Dickinson said after Tuesday’s morning skate. “Ilya looks really good. He goes well with everyone. He reads the game the same way we do. It will be a simple game plan for us. There's not a lot of extra thinking involved, if you will. We know what to expect from each other. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and small plays.”

This combination will be the Blackhawks’ “identity line.” They started the game, as we will see often, setting the tone early with plenty of time and physicality in the offensive zone.

“All three of these guys are very responsible and defensively strong guys,” Richardson said. “Mikheyev brings more speed to that line. He's hard on the puck. They are all good penalty takers and defensive players. But I think these are guys that when they're playing against top lines, which we're going to try to do most of the year if we can, they can make the other guys pay if they get a little careless or sloppy . It will be a true two-way line.”

Jason Dickinson with the first goal on CHSN 🚨

(@NHLBlackhawks) pic.twitter.com/aQGxWxSTsA

– Chicago Sports Network (@CHSN__) October 2, 2024

They got the offense going early for the Blackhawks' first goal. They were the Blackhawks' best team in the first two periods. After 40 minutes, they had an 8-2 advantage in shot attempts. They even finished the game 9-9, so they had a difficult third period. That was to be expected since Foligno and Dickinson were playing in their first preseason game and spent a lot of time taking penalties.

Kevin Korchinski is having major problems for the first time in the preseason

Korchinski has now played all four preseason games. He was solid in the first three games and led the Blackhawks in ice time on back-to-back nights against the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. Things went wrong for the second-year defenseman, as the first two Wild goals came right off his stick.

On the first goal, he tried to pass the puck to the middle of the ice while the Blackhawks were making a line change. Instead, he should have recognized that no one was in the middle of the ice and used the glass to get the puck out of the zone.

Related article: Has Kevin Korchinski cemented his place on the roster?

He looked like he learned that lesson on the second game, but just couldn't get it done. He tried to use the glass to get the puck and only failed to make the pass. What's even more worrying is that no one caught Lauko as he came down the ball, allowing him to score an easy goal. There will be turnovers, but when they do, the team has to react better.

MINNESOTA WILD JAKUB LAUKO pic.twitter.com/nwip35ujNA

– Spoke Z (@SpokedZ) October 2, 2024

Tuesday was by far Korchinski's worst game of the preseason. He finished minus-3 with just two shot attempts. In 17:21 of 5v5 ice time, he was on the ice for 24 shot attempts against and just 9 for the opponent. A Corsi percentage of 27.27 (CF%) is not enough. I don't think one bad game should kill his ticket to the AHL, but the team now has its biggest reason for sending him to Rockford. Hopefully he'll be back in the squad for Friday's game against the Wild. I want to see how he reacts after two days of training.

Fast chirping

• Luke Reichel had another ineffective night. He had no shot attempts and the team trailed 28-3 in shot attempts when he was on the ice. His line with Andreas Athanasiou And Taylor Hall was terrible. There is currently no place for Reichel on the NHL roster.
• When you see a goalkeeper allow seven goals, you usually assume he played poorly. That's hard to say Drew Commesso was terrible on Friday evening. He made some good saves throughout the night, but was left on an island too often. Arvid Söderblom Whoever starts the season with the team has the advantage Laurent Brossoit is recovering from a knee injury. Chances are, that was always the plan.
• In his post-match interview, Foligno said the team started well before falling into “old habits”. Last season 13 players were dressed, so this statement is worrying. We must not forget that this is still the pre-season, with players using these games to regain their legs and get into playing shape. Still, last night's game is worrying. They still have a week of training and two exhibition games left to find their rhythm before the results count.
• Bedard scored the Blackhawks' second power play goal of the season with one of his six shots on goal. The second-year star's most impressive stat was winning eight of 15 faceoffs. If he can improve in scoring this season, he will get more time with the puck.