The Blackhawks got Connor Bedard back on Thursday night, but that wasn’t enough to stop the current skid, which is now at eight in a row after a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the United Center.
One of the players to whom Bedard was compared in his pre-draft years decided to remind everyone who he is with this absurd redirect of a point shot, giving the Penguins the lead just 13 seconds into the game.
Pittsburgh continued to spoil Bedard’s return with this Reilly Smith goal, making it a 2-0 game at the 12:40 mark of the first:
Pittsburgh owned the play for the early portions of the second period, with the Blackhawks being held without a shot on goal for the first eight minutes of that middle period. But then they got a shot on goal, and scored on it:
The whole play starts with an excellent backhand chip by Korchinski at the blue line to keep it alive, then Foligno found Bedard, who found Kurashev for the easy tap-in.
Chicago had some chances later in the period to tie the game but never cashed in. Then, early in the third, Crosby was left wide open on the side of the net and pounced on this rebound to make it a 3-1 game:
Bryan Rust added a 200-foot empty-netter for the final goal of the evening.
Notes
- There are certainly nits to be picked on Bedard’s overall play from his return outing, mostly on the defensive side of things. But the buzz generated by his return was obvious. Every time he possessed the puck and the crowd recognized he had some room to work, there was a palpable feeling of excitement that something cool might be happening soon. Been a while since we had that.
- Looked like it took about a period for Bedard to find his sea legs again, but those final 40 minutes offered plenty of reminders of what he’s bringing to the table now — and he’s only going to get better, too.
- The chemistry between Bedard and Kurashev didn’t take long to re-emerge, and that’s going to be a fascinating development to watch over the next few seasons. Kurashev’s partially on Bedard’s wing as a result of circumstance: there really aren’t any other forwards who’d be better candidates to skate with 98 on the roster right now. Over the next few seasons, though, there are going to be other options. Maybe Frank Nazar. Maybe Oliver Moore. Maybe Taylor Hall, if healthy. Maybe an addition from outside the organ-i-zation. He’ll have two wingers flanking him, of course, and Kurashev has a headstart on building on-ice chemistry that others do not. But it’ll be interesting to see if Kurashev stays at that spot in future seasons. More on this Kurashev/Bedard chemistry in the tweets below.
- Also on the subject of Bedard: it’s fair to assume he’ll improve upon his current faceoff win rate of 40.1 percent. Until he does, though, it’s certainly not the worst idea in the world to have him set up for one-timers when the faceoff is in the right circle. Such an occurrence happened in the second period, Foligno won the draw back to Bedard, and he ripped one wide of the net. Bedard’s certainly capable of turning those into goals with more practice.
- He doesn’t come to Chicago often because he’s in the East, but Sidney Crosby remains an otherworldly talent and what he’s still doing on the ice despite being one of the oldest players in the league at 36 should not be possible — but it’s happening.
- So … I don’t know, just spit-balling here: maybe don’t leave Crosby wide-the-fuck-open in the offensive zone on multiple occasions?
- This doesn’t always translate well on TV but from the bird-eye perspective inside the building this evening, Pittsburgh’s gameplan was evident: clog up the neutral zone with a single forechecker and four bodies in the neutral zone, daring the Blackhawks to navigate those rough seas. It’s a solid plan because Chicago has, what, two or three guys who have the speed and skill to skate through that? Bedard for sure, maybe Kurashev or Seth Jones if they get a head of steam? They can’t counter it with speed/skill, and the dump-and-chase game didn’t seem to work too well, either. Tough sledding all night because of that.
- San Jose won this evening. Chicago is now four points clear of last place and the Sharks have a game in hand. Guess we’re back to this place again, aren’t we?
- Let’s hear from the kid himself:
- And a few from the coach:
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Sidney Crosby (PIT) — 2 goals
- Rickard Rakell (PIT) — 2 assists
- Philipp Kurashev (CHI) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks remain at home and host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.