Yeah, it was billed as “Connor vs. Connor,” but Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard didn’t want his first showdown against Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid to be about two players.
“I don’t think either of us would see it as an individual head-to-head. It’s two teams going at it,” Bedard said before Tuesday’s game at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.
Good luck with that.
The nationally televised game — in the U.S. and Canada — lived up to the hype, thanks in part to Bedard.
If you don’t want to hog the spotlight, next time try not to score with a mesmerizing shot over Stuart Skinner’s shoulder 3 1/2 minutes into the game.
It was the fifth time Bedard scored the game’s opening goal, tied for first in the NHL with JJ Peterka and Sidney Crosby.
“I haven’t seen it so I don’t really know how it went it,” Bedard said. “I just shot it and luckily it went in. But I haven’t really thought much about it.”
And how about McDavid?
He got the adrenaline going on a first-period rush and sealed the deal with a pass that set up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ short-range wrister past Petr Mrázek.
That sent the Oilers on their way to a 4-1 win that didn’t seem as lopsided as the score would suggest. It was back and forth, rush for rush, but that’s more Edmonton’s game than Chicago’s.
Styles make fights, and Bedard conceded that’s “probably not” the best style for the Hawks against one of the fastest teams in the NHL.
“They have the top two players in the world,” he said, referring to McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who scored in the second period, “and maybe calming down a little bit more and not give as many rush chances.”
Forward Jason Dickinson said he felt like the Hawks “were in it and doing a lot of the right things.”
“There were moments where we were turning pucks over too much and feeding their transition and giving them opportunities,” Dickinson said. “But we were also working it low below their hash marks and creating a lot, so I think there were a lot of positives.
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“It stings losing, and losing 4-1 it seems like we might have gotten dominated, but I really didn’t feel like we were.”
Draisaitl’s goal ricocheted off Hawks defenseman Nikita Zaitsev’s stick — that was a killer. Zach Hyman capped the scoring with a third-period power-play goal.
With two exceptions, the Hawks stayed out of the penalty box. Considering they have the 21st-ranked penalty kill (77%) and 28th-ranked on the road (73.9%) — and were facing the league’s fourth-best power play (27.6% overall, 28.9% at home) — the damage could’ve been far worse.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “If you take out the goal that went off Zaitsev’s stick and then their power-play goal, I thought we were right in that game.”
Here are five takeaways from the loss.
1. Connor Bedard’s goal took a little trickery — and patience.
Alex Vlasic sat on the puck in the defensive zone, waiting for a pass lane to develop. Philipp Kurashev skated the neutral zone from the left wall (Vlasic’s side) toward the bench, carrying McDavid with him and out of that area.
As Kurashev skated toward the bench, Bedard skated down the offensive blue line in the opposite direction. The result: Vlasic had a wide-open gap to hit Bedard with a stretch pass.
Bedard turned on a dime and roofed a goal under Mattias Ekholm’s stick.
“That’s a world-class shot right there,” Dickinson said. “That’s a play that he knows it’s muscle memory. He knows his spot, he knows where he is and he knows where the net is.
“He’s just picking that spot and he’s making the goalie try to beat him. And sure enough, he won that one today.”
Skinner gave him credit.
“For sure you watch (his shot) on video lots,” the Oilers goalie said, “because anytime you open up Instagram, it’s the first thing that comes up. But seeing it live …
“Overall I thought he played really well. He made a very nice move. It was a very nice shot.”
2. Lukas Reichel didn’t do himself any favors.
Earlier this month, Reichel was a healthy scratch, a setback he called a “wakeup call.” The Hawks demoted him to the fourth line not only because his offensive production was lacking, but also because his intensity was lagging.
His play Tuesday, particularly during Nugent-Hopkins’ goal, was no way to work his way back up the ladder.
First, his rim pass to MacKenzie Entwistle was soft and intercepted by Evan Bouchard, who started McDavid on the breakout.
Reichel was at center ice with McDavid to his right and Nugent-Hopkins to his left coming up the middle. Reichel turned and pursued McDavid, even though Hawks defenseman Louis Crevier was on that side and had responsibility for McDavid.
Reichel kind of glided into the defensive zone, waiting for McDavid to make a move, apparently oblivious to Nugent-Hopkins barreling up the slot behind him. By the time McDavid made a centering pass to Nugent-Hopkins, Reichel could only poke out his stick in vain.
Filip Roos, who had Zach Hyman covered, tried to switch off to Nugent-Hopkins but it was too late. Nugent-Hopkins banked in his shot off the crossbar.
Richardson said the Hawks have to “sort that out a little better.” Ultimately Reichel was relegated to a team-low 10 minutes, 14 seconds of ice time.
“Yeah, that’s about right,” Richardson said. “He’s got to have more fight in him.
“We saw that one of the first games back after sitting out, he knew … said all the right things, and I think he’s just down on himself. It’s pretty hard for a coach to give a player confidence. All we can do is just try and show them some pointers of some good plays.
“He’s a young player and there’s going to be ups and downs, and we’re going to stick with him and try and help him through it.”
3. Nikita Zaitsev had a deflection goal — for the Oilers.
Zaitsev looked crestfallen after Draisaitl’s shot went in off the shaft of Zaitsev’s stick.
“(Draisaitl) zings it, and if Zaitsev doesn’t get a stick on it, maybe it’s a backdoor chance,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately he had to put a stick there and it went in. It surprised Petr.”
Dickinson agreed.
“It’s just an unlucky balance,” he said. “He’s in the right spot. He’s making the right read and if a stick is one inch the other way — doesn’t go in. So it’s just a fluke timing situation that if it had been slightly earlier or slightly later, probably not even talking about it.”
4. The defensemen held up better than expected without Seth Jones.
Jones suffered an upper-body injury in the third period of Sunday’s game against the Washington Capitals, Richardson said, so he was a scratch Tuesday.
That meant the blue-line group was down Jones, Jarred Tinordi (concussion protocol) and Kevin Korchinski (family matters), leaving Zaitsev and Connor Murphy to shepherd a bunch of rookies — Vlasic, Isaak Phillips, Crevier and Roos — against McDavid and company.
Richardson called that a “tall order,” a joking reference to the rookies’ collective height, from the 6-foot-3 Phillips to the 6-8 Crevier.
On Sam Gagner’s goal, Darnell Nurse pinned Crevier against the back wall on the forecheck, and Derek Ryan swooped in and fed Gagner.
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But that and Zaitsev’s misfortune aside, the group held its own for the most part.
“Kudos for our ‘D’ that stepped up,” Dickinson said. “They did a great job of handling that whole team. They can come with a ton of speed, a ton of skill.
“I felt like we limited them to a reasonable number of chances, and they managed (McDavid’s) speed very well. They were able to push him outside. Vlassy did a great job. He was using a stick, using his body.”
Richardson said that the defensemen “did a heck of a job” and that Vlasic “broke up plays and played a physical game” throughout a game-high 25 minutes.
“We can’t do that every night to one guy, but tonight was a night that you had to,” Richardson said, a nod to McDavid and Draisaitl.
At the end of the second period, with the Hawks on the penalty kill, assistant coach Kevin Dean asked Vlasic if he was OK.
“And he was honest,” Richardson said. “He said, ‘No.’ Some players will just go back out there, but then you’re putting your team in detriment. He’s smart enough to know when to say he needs to rest, even when he plays that much.”
5. Jason Dickinson stepped into ‘A’ bigger role.
With Jones sidelined, Dickinson was named an alternate captain.
Nick Foligno sung Dickinson’s praises last month, but now he has a title to go with the accolades, even though it could be temporary.
“He’s shown that he deserves it,” Richardson said, “the way he’s played and his leadership and talking on the bench, the timeouts and playing the right way for us. He starts every game the right way for us on that (third) line.”
Dickinson was gratified.
“It’s a huge honor that they trust me to wear it,” he said. “I don’t think it changes anything in my approach. I try to be a leader without the letter.
“There’s a number of guys in this room that could have worn it. … I’m appreciative that they recognize the leadership that I bring.”