NHL: Reichel not in the squad due to Blackhawks bankruptcy
For German national ice hockey player Lukas Reichel, the new NHL season is not yet going according to plan. As was the case at the start, the 22-year-old striker did not make it into the matchday squad for the second game of the Chicago Blackhawks. The team led by super talent Connor Bedard lost 1-2 after extra time to the Winnipeg Jets, but at least got their first point of the young season.
The second-worst team of the previous season, the Edmonton Oilers with Leon Draisaitl, continues on Sunday night. It remains uncertain whether Reichel will be on the ice in Canada. Even before the start of the season at the Utah Hockey Club (2:5), head coach Luke Richardson made it clear that it wasn’t enough for Reichel. There has to be more to come, Richardson said.
After the cracking 6-0 win in Edmonton, the Jets stepped up. Chicago already thought they were winners after Ryan Donato’s goal (37′), but Mark Scheifele equalized 64 seconds before the end. In overtime, the attacker scored a brace (61′), which was the 300th goal of his career.
Nikita Kutscherow was also as accurate as usual. The best scorer of the last main round first scored the equalizer through Braydon Point (23rd) in his Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, then the Russian led his team with a hat trick (52nd/58th/ 60.) in the final third almost single-handedly to the opening victory.
The team from Florida had already traveled to the venue in Raleigh, North Carolina, last Monday in view of Hurricane Milton. The Lightning’s home game against the Hurricanes scheduled for Sunday (German time) has already been postponed.
