Arvid Söderblom left Saturday’s 4-0 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets with an unknown injury, making him the third Chicago Blackhawks goalie to exit a game with an injury this season.
Dylan Wells made his NHL debut after the second intermission and made 12 saves. The Hawks fell to 5-5-2.
“I actually don’t know his status,” coach Luke Richardson said of Söderblom during the NBC Sports Chicago broadcast. “The trainer came in after the second period, just said he (Söderblom) wasn’t feeling good, and Wells is here and stood really strong for us in the third period.”
“It’s definitely concerning with our goalie injuries at this point, but hopefully he’s not too bad.”
Wells gave up a power-play goal to Nate Schmidt — the Jets’ third of the game with a man advantage — 4 minutes, 49 seconds into the third period, but he also faced down Kyle Connor’s rush with five minutes left.
It’s an incredible run of bad luck with goalie injuries for the Hawks just 12 games into the season.
— Petr Mrazek left the home opener against the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 21 with a groin strain.
— Alex Stalock was bowled over by New York Islanders forward Casey Cizikas on Tuesday and left three minutes into the game. Stalock later was placed into the concussion protocol.
— Söderblom finished that 3-1 loss and made 32 saves in a 2-1 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings, but he had a rougher go against the Jets, giving up two power-play goals and one short-handed before bowing out after two periods. He made 21 saves Saturday.
Meanwhile, it has been a “whirlwind” for Wells since October, quickly ascending from ECHL Indy Fuel to the AHL Rockford IceHogs to the Hawks, backing up Söderblom.
“To be able to do that tonight was pretty special,” Wells said after the game Saturday. ”It’s been a goal of mine since I was a kid. I’m pretty happy.”
As for Söderblom’s injury, Wells said: “I’m not really too sure what happened, but when I was told I was going in, I just rolled with it and got to go do my job. That’s it.”
Richardson praised how quickly Wells adjusted since signing a one-year, two-way contract Wednesday.
“He’s (had) a smile on his face the last few days being here,” Richardson said during the postgame broadcast. “Unfortunately he went in in a tough situation, and we gave a tough opportunity on the power play for Winnipeg that really he didn’t have a chance on
“Other than that, he stood strong and he looked confident standing in the crease, so it was a good start for him. Unfortunately it wasn’t a good finish for us.”
