Reichel with best performance yet for AHL Rockford, but the IceHogs fall 4-2 to Grand Rapids Griffins. Drew Commesso stops 21 of 24 shots as Rockford loses series to Detroit Red Wings' farm club three games to one.

Lukas Reichel scored twice in a sharp effort, but the Rockford IceHogs were eliminated from the 2024 AHL playoffs in the first round, losing 4-2 to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday.

The IceHogs, the Blackhawks' wholly owned affiliate, dropped the best-of-five series three games to one before a sellout crowd of 6,177 at the BMO Center in downtown Rockford.

Reichel was the Blackhawks' top forward prospect before the team drafted Connor Bedard in 2023. He went to Rockford restore assertiveness and focus to his game following a disappointing 2023-24 season. 

Reichel had just five goals and 11 assists in 65 games for Chicago last season despite ample ice time and opportunity. He had been demoted to Rockford for a month in the regular season, returning to the Blackhawks for their final 15 games.

Off To IIHF World Championship for Germany?

Chicago's first-round draft pick in 2020, the 21-year-old Reichel could join Germany's team for the IIHF World Championship, which opens on May 10 in Czechia. The wiry 6-foot, 175-pound forward is from Nürnberg and mentions that he misses his mother's Bavarian-style cooking.

Drew Commesso, the Blackhawks top minor-pro goalie prospect, was  in nets for a third straight game. The 21-year-old from the Boston area stopped 21 of 24 shots before Grand Rapids' Marco Kasper sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:05 left in the third period.

Reichel opened the scoring on Sunday with a power-play goal from the high slot at 14:11 of the first period. Set up by Ethan Del Mastro, he whipped a screened shot off the left post.

The lead was short-lived. Grand Rapids' Carter Mazur tied it 1-all just 11 seconds later. Austin Czarnik put the Griffins ahead with 3:57 left in the first, beating Commesso from the short side for his third goal of the series.

Following a scoreless second, Jonatan Berggren notched his third goal of the series at 5 minutes of the third during a delayed penalty call to make it 3-1. Berggren picked a tiny spot in the upper-left corner between Commesso's head and the crossbar as the goalie dropped to cover the post.

Reichel cut it to 3-2 just 1:40 later to set up a tight finish with one of his most impressive plays of the season — at Rockford or Chicago. 

Reichel won a faceoff in the Griffins zone, pulling it back to Wyatt Kaiser at the blueline. Kaiser slipped the puck back to Reichel in the right circle and he one-timed it in.