Lukas Reichel’s preseason experience prepared him, on some level, for what awaited him Thursday night at the United Center.
Even so, Reichel tried to take it all in during his NHL debut, culminating with a Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens in a wacky finish.
“I had so much fun out there,” Reichel said. “First game, first win, so that sounds pretty good.”
Reichel couldn’t help but laugh when the Hawks’ top prospect learned he would be on the same line with his favorite player. Skating alongside Patrick Kane would be memorable in itself for the 19-year-old German. That it happened Thursday in his debut added to a special night for the 2020 first-round pick.
Reichel finished with three shots on goal and logged 15 minutes, 55 seconds of ice time, tied for fifth-most among Hawks forwards.
“Right away I felt pretty good in the first period,” Reichel said. “I had my confidence the whole game, especially with those two-on-ones.
“Sometimes you think you have not so much time and you have time.”
The Hawks needed a good bounce and two replay reviews to go their way to narrowly avoid a loss to the worst team in the NHL. Tied at 2 in the waning minutes of overtime, Philipp Kurashev appeared to score as he went down in a crash into the net, which knocked it off its moorings. An initial review deemed it a good goal, but it prompted a second replay review to determine whether Kurashev was offsides on the sequence.
However, the replay ruled Kurashev was onside and in control of the puck, giving the Hawks the victory.
“I was just hoping they were going to count it, and thank God they did at the end,” Kurashev said. “It was a really close call, but I thought it was good, so good thing the refs saw it the same way.”
The Hawks nearly wasted a strong first period in which they outshot the Canadiens 13-2 and kept them without a shot on goal until nearly 15 minutes into the game. Dominik Kubalik put the Hawks ahead with 7:42 left in the period, but the Canadiens recovered in the second to score twice, including on a power-play goal with less than two minutes remaining to go ahead 2-1.
Patrick Kane ended a 13-game scoring drought, tying it less than four minutes into the third on a near-post shot. Coach Derek King credited Reichel’s presence on the line with Kane in helping free him up. King spoke highly of the young forward.
“I really liked his pace of play,” King said. “He can skate. You can see it. It’s little things. … He pushes the (defense) back and frees up a lot of space for other guys.
“I really liked watching him today. I think as he goes here he’s going to get more and more comfortable.”
Reichel didn’t know when the Blackhawks would call him up from the Rockford IceHogs, with whom he has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 20 games. But he had an inkling it could happen soon following a conversation a week ago with his agent, who told him: “Maybe you’ll get called up, so be ready.”
“It’s a dream come true for me since I was a kid, so it’s pretty exciting,” Reichel said after Thursday’s optional morning skate. “I want to show what I can and play my best game.”
Reichel’s arrival marked one of the few high points in an otherwise lackluster season for the Blackhawks. Entering Thursday’s game, they owned the third-fewest points in the 16-team Western Conference.
Regardless of how well Reichel played, it’s expected to be an abbreviated call-up. King indicated Wednesday that Reichel will be with the team for a few games before returning to Rockford to finish the season. The Hawks developed a game plan for Reichel and are keeping the big picture in mind.
“Sometimes, giving a kid like that too much could hurt him in the long run, so we always have that,” King said Wednesday. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’ll see how he does and then we’ll reassess after the couple games.”
Reichel is on board with their development plan.
“Of course I want to bring my best game, and I want to stay here, but it’s good for me if they send me to Rockford,” Reichel said. “It’s more minutes, I’ll play first power play, I play a bigger role. They’re really good.”
He knows he has areas of his game to improve. Reichel specifically referenced handling the corners of the rink, where the left winger struggled a bit at the beginning of the season — the ice is smaller than what he was used to in Europe. Reichel feels much more comfortable with that and how he’s protecting the puck.
Reichel’s parents weren’t able to attend his NHL debut but watched at 2:30 a.m. in Germany. King advised Reichel to enjoy the experience, take it all in, relax and try to play his game.
“The game is faster, it’s harder,” Reichel said. “You get more hits, but I just watch hockey all the time, NHL hockey and my shifts, and try to learn from that. We have a lot of videos in Rockford with the coaches, so I try to learn from them and try to put in my game, and that’s the reason why I feel better now and feel more comfortable on the smaller ice.”
