One line shines as a bright spot in Blackhawks loss to Wild

The Chicago Blackhawks lost another preseason game on Tuesday night. This time, it was a 7-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. It may just be the preseason but there is a lot of concern following this game in which the Wild completely dominated from start to finish.

With that said, there is one bright spot from the game. Chicago’s third line was noticeable at times. The trio of Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson, and Ilya Mikheyev have found some chemistry and should be a solid contributor to the team’s depth.

All three of them seem to know how to find each other and create looks on the net which is always the first step for a good line. None of the players might have high end skill, but they all have a good motor and can create plays in different ways.

Now and again, you’ll see a highlight reel play or shot from Jason Dickinson or Nick Foligno but they mostly rely on their grit for offense. They also have relentless effort which was shown on their one goal in Tuesday’s loss.

Before allowing all of those Wild goals, this third line got the Blackhawks in front 1-0. Foligno sent it back neatly to Seth Jones who put it on the net. That created a juicy rebound and Dickinson scored. With Seth Jones activating on defense, it was a beautiful-looking play. These are the types of hard-working goals that you’ll see from them this year.

After the game, Foligno spoke to the media but he didn’t have many positive things to say about anything to do with this game. He spoke about how the team wasn’t good and needed to be better in Chicago’s next preseason game on Friday.

“We had a good first period but we started to go back into old habits,” Foligno said. “So it’s disappointing.”

Even though it is preseason, this is always going to be the mentality of Foligno. Now that he is the official captain of the team, he may even take on more leadership as far as being vocal. This was his first preseason game as the captain and he didn’t even enjoy it because the Hawks were so outplayed.

“It’s an honor like I said. It didn’t feel too good today. Hopefully, there is way more good things to come now that we got that one out of our system. I’m proud to be out there with those guys leading the way. We have to do a better job.”

He wasn’t about to say anything good about himself, his line, or the game in general even if there were some positives. Foligno has the mindset that everything is bad unless you win. It’s a great quality for a leader.

Foligno is interested in being a great NHL captain as he once was with the Columbus Blue Jackets. That much is clear. However, he is also a big part of leading this team on the ice as well with good play. Foligno showed that he still has that ability to change games in his first game of the season. With Dickinson and Mikheyv on the line looking solid as well, Foligno could be leading a great trio that is considered responsible contributors.

One extra element of play that this group brings is physicality. They are going to be hard on the puck, win board battles, and finish their checks. That will open up more room for themselves and other lines on the team. The hope now is that they continue to score in addition to everything else that they do right. It was on full display in Minnesota.