There’s a Blackhawks game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at the United Center but that already feels like the secondary headline this evening.
Because our long wait is (reportedly) over:
Yes, the young phenom appears to be returning from that fractured jaw sustained in early January against the New Jersey Devils, slightly ahead of the 6-8 week recovery timeline that was initially assigned — young bones heal fast, it seems.
Given the long-term outlook the Blackhawks have at the moment and how much of the success of it depends on the long-term health of Bedard, it seems like the team would be taking every precaution possible before allowing him to return to the ice, because any injury caused by a premature comeback would be about as big of a mistake as this current regime could make.
Out of the ordinary, for sure, but also not out of the realm of possibility, either. With no morning skate for the Blackhawks, official word won’t come until Luke Richardson meets with the media a few hours before the game. But this game has become significantly more watchable in the last few hours with Bedard now being in the lineup for a team that has struggled mightily at putting the puck in the net. Jason Dickinson recently passed Bedard for the team lead in goals with 16, but Dickinson’s appeared in 53 games, while Bedard has 15 in 39 and his 18 assists leave him atop the team lead for points at 33.
Even more than Bedard being the team’s statistical leader, though, he represents the hope that this thing will ultimately be pointed back upward at some point in the not-too-distant future and his presence on the ice would also offer reminders of the absurd talent that made him the object of every tanking team’s eye last season. The “maybe Bedard will do something cool” factor can once again offer a reason to watch.
Chicago’s opponent this evening is the same team it faced in the season opener, with Chicago taking that game 4-2. It hasn’t gotten much better for the Penguins this season, who seemed to be banking on one final run out of its aging core when it added Erik Karlsson in a blockbuster summer trade. The thought was that Karlsson’s arrival, combined with the presence of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, would be enough to put Pittsburgh back in the class of contenders. Those four have mostly delivered, as they’re all among the top-five statistical leaders for Penguins. But the depth behind those players hasn’t been enough to fill in the gaps and new GM Kyle Dubas seems like he could be on the verge of tearing this entire thing down to the studs for a lengthy rebuild. The Penguins have a 23-20-7 record, good for 53 points and seventh in the Metropolitan Division. With seven points and four teams between them and a wild card spot with roughly one-third of the season remaining, a postseason berth feels extremely unlikely at this point.
Pittsburgh hosted the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night and lost 5-2, with an injury to one of its top-six forwards adding injury to the insult:
Pittsburgh did not have a morning skate, either, so Guentzel’s status remains up in the air. Starter Tristan Jarry occupied the net against Florida, so the expectation is that backup Alex Nedeljkovic (8-4-3 record, 2.63 GAA, .917 SV%) will get the nod for this game.
Let’s end by returning the big headline here: Bedard seems to be coming back. And that means there’s suddenly significant more interest in this game than any in the last month or so.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Penguins
44.20% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 52.32% (7th)
42.49% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.35% (8th)
2.08 (t-31st) — Goals per game — 2.9 (t-24th)
3.51 (29th) — Goals against per game — 2.63 (5th)
45.7% (32nd) — Faceoffs — 55.6% (1st)
12.4% (32nd) — Power play — 13.9% (30th)
77.7% (23rd) — Penalty kill — 81.6% (t-9th)
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: NBC Sports APP, ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720