The Chicago Blackhawks put a pin in their preseason with a 5-3 road loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Next up are final cuts and practice Monday before the regular-season roster jets off to Pittsburgh for Tuesday’s opener against the Penguins.
So Saturday’s game was about affirming the players coaches were already high on or settling roster spots between the players they weren’t quite sure about — or in a few cases, giving playing time to prospects who didn’t get a chance to show what they can do.
The Hawks recalled David Gust, Mike Hardman and Brett Seney from Rockford.
“There’s guys still fighting for spots and want to leave a good impression,” coach Luke Richardson said before the game.
Goalie Petr Mrázek played the entire game, and the Blues scored on him in each period — including two by Robert Thomas.
Lukas Reichel put the Hawks on the board with a rebound goal that Blues goalie Jordan Binnington practically handed to him.
Joey Anderson and MacKenzie Entwistle rallied the Hawks to within a goal midway through the second period, but Jake Neighbours gave the Blues an insurance goal early in the third.
Here are four takeaways from Saturday’s game.
1. MacKenzie Entwistle found redemption.
But can he find a roster spot?
Entwistle laughed off an embarrassing fall that cost him a juicy two-on-one opportunity against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday — which he followed with an even juicier backdoor attempt that hit the post.
On Saturday, he wouldn’t be denied.
He outhustled Kevin Hayes for a loose puck along the walls and juked Scott Perunovich to score on Jordan Binnington.
More Top Picks Best Watercolor Paper For Professionals
The stakes are high for Entwistle. Cole Guttman is a solid bet to make the roster, and veteran newcomers Nick Foligno and Corey Perry may crowd Entwistle out of his fourth-line role.
“We’re fighting for spots, so when something happens like that and it’s pretty blatantly obvious, it sucks,” Entwistle said Friday of his missed opportunities against the Wings. “But if that’s why you get cut … it is what it is.”
He emphasized he would get one more chance to make an impression before the season starts.
“You’ve got to move on to the next game, next practice, next day, next shift,” he said.
2. Still sorting it out?
The Hawks seemed to have problems communicating defensive assignments, particularly in transition.
Maybe the game’s first goal can be chalked up to youth. As Nikita Alexandrov sped up the left wall, Hawks defenseman Isaak Phillips vacated that side and closed on Mackenzie MacEachern at the center of the blue line — and nearly bumped into partner Jarred Tinordi — instead of going into a backpedal against Alexandrov.
MacEachern never became a part of the play. Robert Bortuzzo sent a cross-ice pass to Alexandrov, who had a wide-open path to score a power-play goal on Mrázek.
On MacEachern’s two-on-one goal, he got behind Anders Bjork and Nikita Zaitsev as they tried to sort out picking him up, though Bjork had been covering him and might have had backup responsibilities.
Zaitsev, meanwhile, was on the ice for three Blues goals.
3. Wyatt Kaiser and Alex Vlasic stood out.
Each has been making a case for the roster all camp.
Kaiser came to Phillips’ rescue in the second period. Phillips tried to break out but lost control of the puck while bracketed by Jordan Kyrou and Zachary Bolduc, and Bolduc tapped it to Kyrou.
Kaiser slid to break up a short-range two-on-one, and a short time later he iced the puck to get the Hawks out of danger.
Vlasic, paired with Kevin Korchinski, provided reliable defense and aggressive offense.
He took the first two shots during a frenzied six-man attack with two minutes left but missed the net on one while another was blocked.
“The (defensive) core, we’re young and probably going to be young this year and for a few years to come,” Richardson said before the game.
4. Kevin Korchinski got a long look.
The defensive prospect put in the most ice time (24 minutes, 26 seconds, including 3:10 on the power play) of any Hawk, and he assisted on Anderson’s goal.
Korchinski has had a good camp in the eyes of coaches and some veteran defensemen. Still, it remains a mystery whether the Hawks will give him his first shot on the regular-season roster.
Richardson gave no hints before the game.
“He’s shown that he can skate in this league,” he said. “Just positionally we’ve got a little bit of work to do.”
He said Korchinski’s receptiveness to coaching indicates he’ll “really develop quickly.”
However, “right now we’ve just made the point as an organization we’re not going to tell anybody they’re on the team until they’re actually on the team,” Richardson said. “And that’s tonight’s game and get into it tomorrow.”