Boqvist Boosts Prospects to Game 1 Win

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Blackhawks prospects got on the board often early and took a stunning game-winner in the extra frame as they opened the 2019 Traverse City Prospect Tournament with a 5-4 OT win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Full Box Score

GOALS FLOWING

Chicago took a commanding lead in the opening frame with four goals in just under 9 minutes following Detroit's opening goal. Mikael Hakkarainen, Kirby Dach, MacKenzie Entwistle and Brandon Hagel each found the scoresheet at even strength.

Dylan McLaughlin found Hakkarainen with a back-door feed at 6:09 of the 1st before free-agent invite Riley McKay sprung his Saskatoon Blades teammate Dach on a breakaway for the lead 1:25 later. Nicolas Beaudin fed Entwistle in the slot off the rush at 12:33 and Hagel tipped home a Jack Ramsey shot at 14:52 to complete the offensive burst.

DOWN A MAN

The goal train came to a halt in the second period as the Blackhawks found themselves down a man on four different occasions. On the night, the Red Wings went 3-for-5 on the power play - the biggest factor in the game getting to OT.

In the opening 90 seconds of the first, Chad Krys was called for a tripping minor that the Wings capitalized on before Chicago rattled off four straight.

The middle frame saw the physicality pick up as McKay (roughing) and Boqvist (slashing) forced the Hawks to kill off 90 seconds of a two-man advantage with two key stops from Alexis Gravel, only to see a flubbed shot from the point elude the netminder through traffic near the end of Boqvist's penalty. A Liam Coughlin tripping minor led to Joe Veleno's second of the night to complete the comeback heading into the third tied at 4-4.

PP FIRE POWER

The Blackhawks had three cracks at the man advantage themselves, but Derek King's top power play unit will be a fun one to watch in the remaining three games of the tournament. With Entwistle between Hagel and Dach up front and Boqvist and Beaudin manning the points, the potent fivesome accounted for a combined 123 goals and 225 assists in 2018-19. They had five shots on goal (by my very unofficial count) in their half of the three power plays.