The Chicago Blackhawks sent Lukas Reichel back to the AHL farm team Rockford IceHogs on Friday. On his second flying visit to the NHL this season, he made three appearances and scored three points. He got all three points in a 4-3 overtime home win against the Calgary Flames on January 8. The 20-year-old from Nuremberg scored a goal and prepared two goals.
Defenders spoke ahead of Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche Jack Johnson and coach Luke Richardson positive about the young German. “This time he showed a lot more self-confidence and aggressiveness than he did in the training camp. You could see his talent. It’s a completely different game to be on the ice in an NHL game. I’m happy for him,” said Johnson.
According to his coach, Reichel has gone through an important learning curve. “It’s often a fine line for young players in the NHL, on the one hand to play creatively and with a certain degree of freedom, but on the other hand not to act too risky and lose the disc. He’s experiencing this at the moment. He worked well on the puck and only made a few bad passes. In general, he behaved intelligently in his offensive actions,” Richardson said.