Blackhawks forward Corey Perry missed his second consecutive game Friday against the Maple Leafs.
That was the only news on Perry’s third consecutive day absent from the team, dating to his sudden, suspicious healthy scratch Wednesday against the Blue Jackets.
Coach Luke Richardson repeated essentially the same response to four Perry-related questions before the game, emphasizing and re-emphasizing that the details explaining Perry’s absence will be ‘‘kept internal for now.’’
‘‘Hopefully we’ll be able to give updates soon, but we can’t give a timeline on that,’’ Richardson said.
It’s a significantly different, more secretive tone than Richardson has used at any previous point in his tenure with the Hawks, including when Patrick Kane rumors were running rampant in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline last season.
Soderblom rewarded
Veteran forward Jason Dickinson, the hat-trick hero of the overtime victory Friday, was shocked when he noticed young goalie Arvid Soderblom’s record — 1-6-0 — on the pregame lineup sheet.
‘‘I couldn’t believe that when I saw it,’’ Dickinson said. ‘‘Obviously, our record is what it is, but we should be playing a lot better for him because he’s getting us everything. He has stood on his head a lot of nights, and we haven’t been able to come up with something for him.’’
The Hawks finally did, giving Soderblom only his fourth career victory in 24 starts, but Soderblom played a major role in that, too. The Leafs tested him with a barrage of high-danger chances in the opening minutes of the game. He finished the afternoon with 34 saves on 37 shots, and he was 18-for-18 in the last 40 minutes.
Soderblom’s overall save percentage this season remains a subpar .885, but the Hawks hope this sparks a run of better form and better luck for him.
‘‘I don’t think he’s going to let himself get too up and take the foot off [the pedal],’’ Richardson said. ‘‘He [also] doesn’t get down too much when he doesn’t get the win. He just seems to be even-keeled. That’s a good demeanor for a goaltender. We’re going to have ups and downs this year, so it’ll probably be helpful to have a guy like that back there.’’
Anderson slides in
Depth forward Joey Anderson insisted during training camp that he’s accustomed to bouncing between the NHL and AHL at this point in his career.
‘‘I’ve got a wife and daughter and spend a lot of time with my family, so for the first time in my career I wasn’t as focused [this summer] on, ‘Oh, where am I sitting inside an organization?’ ’’ Anderson said Sept. 26.
After getting waived and sent to Rockford at the end of camp, the 25-year-old backed up that claim. He emerged as the IceHogs’ best offensive player, putting up 16 points in 14 games in the AHL.
And after getting called up to the Hawks and replacing Perry on the veteran third line Friday (alongside Dickinson and Nick Foligno), he backed up that claim again. He fit in seamlessly, helping that line dominate the Leafs — his former team — all afternoon and earning an assist for his first NHL point of the season.
‘‘We were just playing the right way and bringing energy,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s confident [and] easy to read off of. Obviously, [it’s] nice to have some success on Day 1.’’
