Edit: I apologize for my mistake, I realized as we were recording the WCBPodcast that I mixed up may games when I said Mrazek was getting the back to back start. I had completely forgot about Thursdays game agains Colorado. I apologize again for that error.
The Blackhawks are back at it tonight as they look to rebound from the 5-3 loss last Saturday against the defending champs, the Vegas Golden Knights. Full disclouser I have not seen anything about this last game other than the Connor Bedard powerplay goal and have been told that if it wasn’t for goaltender Petr Mrazek, this one would have been a lot uglier than it was. Tonight, the Hawks run it back against the Boston Bruins, who beat the Hawks 3-1 in their second game of the year. That game was a big one as it saw Bedard pick up his first career goal and was also important because it saw Taylor Hall leave with a shoulder injury that kept him out one game. This is important because we found out today that the Hawks have placed Hall on the IR after reinjuring that shoulder last Saturday and will be out for a couple of weeks.
Projected Lines:
#Blackhawks morning skate lineup:
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 24, 2023
Foligno-Bedard-T. Johnson
Athanasiou-Reichel-Raddysh
Kurashev-Dickinson-Perry
Katchouk-Donato-R. Johnson
Korchinski-Jones
Vlasic-Murphy
Kaiser-Tinordi
Mrazek
Söderblom
Extras: Entwistle, Zaitsev
IR: Hall (shoulder)
A few things that stand out here are that Kaiser and Tinordi are switching sides, with Kaiser moving to the left and Tinordi to the right. Nothing crazy, just interesting to see. It also looks like Mrazek will get his first back-to-back start this season. I think he has definitely earned this start, sporting an impressive.924 save percentage. If this one gets ugly but you still want your hockey fix, tonight is the first edition of Frozen Frenzy. All 32 teams will be in action, with games starting every 15 minutes starting at 5 p.m. central. This will be a NFL Red Zone type of coverage, with key moments such as power plays, overtimes, and close games getting priority. Coverage will start on ESPN, ESPN 2, and ESPN Plus. This is an awesome idea, but I just wish the decision-makers at NHL headquarters would have done this on a weekend, but hey, brownie points for trying, I guess. Connor Bedard: Getting Help Yesterday at Hawks morning skate, Bedard was seen getting some faceoff tips from the legend Yanic Perreault. For those who aren’t familiar, Perreault is the all-time leader in face-off wins. He has a 62.86% win rate, winning 1,359 of 2,162 of the faceoffs he has taken. He still coaches locally with the Chicago Mission, who play out of the Hawks practice arena, so I am thrilled to see the Hawks getting him on the ice with Bedard.
Connor Bedard getting tips from Yanic Perreault at the faceoff circle. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/owCKbUqzq9
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 23, 2023
That’s all for me today. I apologize for the lack of meat in this blog. I will get back to normal going forward here. Puck drop is set for 7:30 central, and as always, let's go Hawks.
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