So, 81-1 then?
The Chicago Blackhawks suffered their first defeat of the Connor Bedard era in a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
But the game had one important development: Bedard scored the first NHL goal of his career during a play in which he was the worthy goal-scorer because he made the entire thing happen.
He corralled a loose puck near the blue line to gain zone entry, worked a nice give-and-go with linemate Ryan Donato, fired a shot on net, collected the rebound and then wrapped it around the goal to make it a 1-0 Chicago lead.
On the radio call, John Wiedeman said something along the lines of, “Hope it’s the first goal of 1,000!” And ya know what? That doesn’t seem as far-fetched as it may initially sound.
Bedard nearly had another goal later in the period:
But the first period ended in a 1-1 tie because of this neat redirection by Trent Frederic of a Brandon Carlo point shot:
The first period also saw Taylor Hall depart with an injury. Hall attempted a return during the second period that was short-lived and it now appears he’s going to be out for a while, per coach Luke Richardson’s postgame comments:
Richardson also wasn’t particularly thrilled about the hit.
In the middle of the second period, David Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead for good with this goal:
Early in the third period, the game got a little chippy after this John Beecher hit on Cole Guttman led to a scrap between Beecher and Jason Dickinson:
More on that in a bit.
Later on in the third period, every heart in Chicago probably skipped several beats when Bedard went awkwardly into the boards:
Bedard was OK but the final result was not, as Pastrnak added an empty-netter to make it a 3-1 Bruins final.
Notes
- It feels like we’re still waiting for Bedard to skate into the offensive zone and just blister one past a goalie who doesn’t even know the puck is behind him, because that’s how he seemingly scored all of his goals in juniors. But the fact that he scored in a completely different way for his first NHL goal is just another sign of his overall talent. This is going to be so damn fun.
- The injury to Hall is less fun. Chicago already had virtually no forward depth and an injury to Hall — combined with the preseason injury to Philipp Kurashev — depletes a top-six of two players when it was already an incomplete group. Offense could be difficult to come by while Hall and Kurashev remain on the shelf. Bedard can do a lot. But he cannot do everything. Just ask Connor McDavid!
- Wyatt Kaiser took two minor penalties in this game and now has three for the season. The early cross-check call seemed particularly soft. Hopefully it’s more of a blip on the radar than anything else, because it’s not like Kaiser is holding or tripping guys after being caught out of position.
- Lukas Reichel just looks different this season in a very good way and hopefully that look results in more points season, because the Blackhawks are going to need them.
- The 5-on-5 ice time leader tonight for the Blackhawks? Kevin Korchinski at 18:37. Was on the ice for a goal against but also had a positive expected goal share (54.45 percent), suggesting good things were happening while he was on the ice. Good signs for Game No. 2 for him as well.
- So, yeah: the third-period fight. Look, there are two minds on this and the sides rarely see eye-to-eye. The idea that a team needs to respond with fights to build chemistry or camaraderie or whatever seems like an unnecessarily far-reaching tactic. Isn’t that what training camp is for? But it’s also the second game of an 82-game regular season schedule during a season with minimal expectations. If the rest of the team gets something (or at least says they get something) from seeing Dickinson do that … fine. It’s not worth getting too upset about. But if this was Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final and the Blackhawks were down 2-1 and starting that fight negated a potential power-play in the third period? Then it’s a different story.
- Splitting the first two games of the season is a pretty damn good way to start the season, and so many of the kids have looked good doing it. Hard to find much to complain about right now.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- David Pastrnak (BOS) — 2 goals
- Linus Ullmark (BOS) — 20 saves
- Connor Bedard (CHI) — First career NHL goal
Up Next
The Blackhawks have a few days off before heading north of the border to play the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at 6 p.m.