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Jokiharju secures spot; Blackhawks lose preseason game to Senators

Henri Jokiharju isn't about to admit he's feeling comfortable about his all-but-certain roster spot.

But when the Blackhawks assigned Adam Boqvist to juniors Wednesday afternoon, it basically guaranteed the young defenseman's NHL career will begin at Ottawa on Oct. 4.

Jokiharju started Thursday's preseason game - a 2-1 loss to Ottawa at the United Center - and was paired with veteran Duncan Keith. The 29th pick of the 2017 draft, Jokiharju saw four minutes and 24 seconds of power-play time and got off 2 solid shots in the first two periods.

A bad miscue occurred early in the second period when Jokiharju was too worried about Ryan Dzingel and failed to play the puck behind the net. Bobby Ryan swooped in and fed Matt Duchene out front, allowing Duchene to bury a point-blank shot past Anton Forsberg to tie the game at 1-1.

"We've got to be stronger in the puck area and complementing there with everybody down low," Quenneville said. "They've got three guys, we've got two guys and we've got nobody in front of the net. That's too high-a-quality play when we arrive first on the puck."

Jokiharju (team-high 5 shots on goal) was also on the ice when Ottawa took a 2-1 lead at 2:58 of the third period.

The Hawks' got their goal from Jonathan Toews while on a first-period power play.

"Our passing or movement or pace to our game was nowhere near the level you need," said a disappointed Quenneville.

Time to develop:

The decision to send Adam Boqvist to Ontario Hockey League's London Knights boiled down to the Hawks wanting to do what is right for the young D-man's development. Boqvist stood out in camp, but at the end of the day, he's still an 18-year-old who isn't quite ready to face NHL competition.

"He's a young kid and we want him playing a lot," said coach Joel Quenneville. "London's a pretty good place for any young junior player. It's a good spot for him this year."

Sikura gets a look:

Dylan Sikura - squarely on the roster bubble - took Patrick Kane's spot in the lineup against the Senators. He played with Artem Anisimov and Nick Schmaltz for the first two periods, but was demoted to the bottom two lines for the final 20 minutes.

Almost there:

The Blackhawks will open the regular season at Ottawa in just six days. So is Jonathan Toews pumped to get a new campaign underway?

"Oh yeah," the captain said. "It's been a long time coming. Camp went by fast. Summer went by fast. But I think we're excited to get going - see what (we are) going to look like and start building on a team that's going to have some success this year."

Crawford update:

Corey Crawford remains on schedule to join his teammates for practice early next week. He faced a few shots from defenseman Brandon Davidson at the United Center on Thursday morning.

Said a smiling Davidson, who signed a one-year deal with the Hawks on Thursday: "My shot's not too hard to contend. But it looks like he did a good job and it's forward progress."

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