The Chicago Blackhawks played back-to-back games Sept. 16 and 17 in the Tom Kurvers prospect showcase; the first game was against the St. Louis Blues, and the second was against the Minnesota Wild. The Blackhawks shut out the Blues 5-0 but fell to the Wild 6-4.
Game One vs. St. Louis Blues
Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser wore the C in Chicago’s first game of the showcase, and goaltender Drew Commesso started in net. The first period was scoreless, but defenseman Andrew Perrott dropped the gloves against Blues forward Sam Bitten.
Things started to pick up in the second period when defenseman Louis Crevier opened the scoring. Crevier went top-shelf through three Blues players to make it 1-0. Shortly after, forward Connor Bedard scored his first goal of the night to make it 2-0.
The Hawks went on to score three more goals in the third period, with the first coming from forward Colton Dach.
Bedard notched two more to score a hat trick in his first game since April.
Commesso earned the shutout in his first unofficial game with the team.
Game Two vs. Minnesota Wild
Bedard and Kaiser were the healthy scratches in Chicago’s second game of the showcase, and Crevier wore the C. Goaltender Mitchell Weeks started in net.
Forward Nick Lardis gave the Hawks an early 1-0 lead in the first period with a two-on-one breakaway.
Minnesota quickly answered to tie it, but forward Ryder Rolston gave Chicago the lead once again.
Dach scored his second goal of the showcase to make it 3-1 in the first period.
The Wild racked up three goals in the second period to take the lead, but forward Martin Mišiak evened the score 4-4.
Minnesota scored two more goals in the third period to win the game 6-4.
These two games gave Blackhawks fans a glimpse into the near future, and the future looks bright. We’ll find out more about which prospects will play this season as training camp starts up. The Blackhawks play their first preseason game against the St. Louis Blues on Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
