5 Thoughts: Chicago Blackhawks vs Toronto Maple Leafs

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Jim
October 17, 2023 (8:39 PM)

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The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1.

1. Arvid Soderblom - Soderblom after having a great game against Boston, came in to Toronto and stopped 34 shots. Austin Matthews was red hot after having two hat tricks, but the Hawks were able to shut him down. Arvid kept us in it at the end when the Leafs had the puck in the zone during the empty net when we were leading 3-1, making many sprawling saves.

2. First NHL Point - Kevin Korchinski, the 19 year old defensive prospect, scored his first NHL point in his fourth game ever last night. Korchinski brought it up to center ice, dropped it off to Tyler Johnson who then gave it to Andreas Athanasiou. Athanasiou then made a nice pass splitting two defenders and Johnson tapped it home. Korchinski has been doing a great job quarterbacking the power play, but being aware in the defensive end. Most defensemen who come into the league look a little lost their first couple games, but that wasn't the case for Kevin.

3. Alex Vlasic - Vlasic has been really impressive. He really shined last night, but overall he's been fantastic. He was knocking the puck out of the paint, clearing it, making moves with his stick and doing everything you could ask a defenseman to do. He also had an assist. On the year, he has four games under his belt, two assists and a +5. This is really refreshing to see as he's only 22 years old and didn't get off to a good start when it came to NHL play.

4. It Finally Strikes - The power play was dreadful last year, but it seems to be more dreadful this year, if that's even possible. The Blackhawks struck out on all their power play chances throughout the first two games, and went 0 for 7 in Montreal Saturday night, which is just plain unacceptable and embarrassing. Well, the Hawks struck gold last night and managed to put one in on the power play, breaking that mind boggling streak of not scoring on it. Normally, fans are happy when their team goes on a power play, but for us, it's nothing because we aren't going to score anyways. Luke Richardson nailed the penalty kill down when he came in, now it's time for him to nail down the power play because this is not working.

5. Two Goals Called Back - Two goals were called back last night, and they were both in the final minute and were both offsides during the empty net period. Taylor Hall spun around at the blue line and ripped one in, but it was called back because his skate was onside, but the puck was not. Another goal was called back on the Maple Leafs for being offside. For a game that was already over, it really dragged it out. Taylor Raddysh eventually threw one down from our end, it went in, and it happened to count.