Blackhawks’ Bedard back from 14-game absence, gets assist in loss
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Connor Bedard whips the puck from behind the net past the goalie for an outstanding goal for the Blackhawks. (0:43)
Blackhawks rookie center Connor Bedard returned from a 14-game absence because of a broken jaw in Thursday night’s 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Chicago.
He had an assist on Philipp Kurashev‘s second-period goal. After a sluggish first period, he set up Kurashev with a nifty pass through traffic midway through the second. Kurashev dumped it past sprawling goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. That drew the largest roar of the night from the United Center crowd of 19,423 for this year’s top draft pick.
Bedard lost the game’s opening face-off to Sidney Crosby, then lost contact with the veteran center, who deflected Marcus Pettersson‘s fluttering pass over the left shoulder of Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom 15 seconds in.
Reilly Smith made it 2-1 at 12:40 of the first, beating Soderblom with a wrist shot on the glove side after scooting past Bedard.
The return was earlier than expected for Bedard, who fractured his jaw six weeks ago. The Blackhawks had initially penciled in next week for a return.
“Obviously a tough start for a couple (reasons),” Bedard said. “I wanted to come back earlier, but you’ve got to be safe and smart. They told me I was ready to go today, and so I was excited.
“I’ve been skating four weeks now and felt confident coming in.”
Bedard’s assist moved him a point ahead of Minnesota’s Brock Faber in the rookie scoring race, 34-33.
“He looked pretty good for coming off an extended time,” Crosby said. “There are times he doesn’t get a lot of room and makes something out of nothing.”
Bedard, 18, had been skating with the team recently but has not taken part in practices with contact. The Blackhawks canceled their morning skate Thursday, but according to coach Luke Richardson, Bedard took the ice with extra players and the coaches put him through contact drills, which he took well.
“We had to put him though the next step this morning, a little bit of battle,” Richardson said. “As always, he was ready to come back, but we wanted to talk to him about protecting himself a little bit out there. We put him through some paces and he said, ‘Yeah, I’m comfortable.’ He looked like himself.”
He underwent surgery after receiving a hit from New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith in a game Jan 5. He returned to the ice seven days after surgery and immediately began campaigning the medical staff to do as much on-ice work as possible while he was sidelined.
“We’re excited,” Richardson said before the game. “But we can’t think we can stop skating and he’ll score all the goals.”
In 40 games, Bedard has 15 goals and 34 points — which still leads all NHL rookies, despite him missing more than a month.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.