The Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard skated into the faceoff circle on Tuesday night, saw one of his idols standing across from him and tried to soak in the moment.
That really was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby within arm’s reach. That really was referee Kelly Sutherland welcoming him to the NHL on national television. That really was a sellout crowd pulling cameras out trying to capture the meeting of two generational talents at opposite ends of their careers.
Then the puck dropped, and the instincts that have made the 18-year-old Bedard the NHL’s next big thing kicked in. Playing with a charismatic fearlessness, Bedard dazzled in Chicago’s 4-2 comeback win over Crosby and the Penguins.
Photo: AP
The top pick in the draft picked up an assist and fired five shots at Tristan Jarry while playing 21 minutes, 29 seconds hardly looking intimidated by the stage, the stakes or pretty much anything else.
“I think, for me, it’s just trying to get better every shift, every game,” Bedard said. “I created a bit. There’s obviously things I can get better at, but felt pretty good.”
Penguins defenseman Kris Letang gave Bedard a couple of “welcome to the NHL hits,” not in an attempt to send a message, but because at times it was the only way to keep up with him.
“He’s so good, so shifty,” Letang said. “He’s got great moves. I had to play him hard. He’s really deceptive. You can’t even look at the puck one second, because he’s so fast.”
Chicago trailed 2-0 when Crosby began his 19th season by scoring his 551st career goal, a shot into an open net off a pass from Jake Guentzel 11 minutes, 56 seconds into the second period.
The Blackhawks roared back behind a goal from Ryan Donato — with a secondary assist from Bedard — in the second period, and Cole Guttman’s goal midway through the third. Jason Dickinson gave Chicago the lead with 4 minutes, 31 seconds remaining.
Nick Foligno’s empty-netter with 1 minute, 33 seconds to go sent most of the sellout crowd that came to watch one of the NHL’s brightest stars take on one of its newest home.
“I feel like that was a complete game,” Dickinson said. “We played the full 60. We stuck to our game plan. We played a hard game. It’s nice when you get rewarded.”
Petr Mrazek stopped 38 shots for the Blackhawks.
Crosby and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins, who had their run of 16 consecutive playoff appearances end last spring thanks in part to a late-season pratfall against the Blackhawks. Pittsburgh retooled over the summer, including adding three-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson.
However, fireworks were hard to come by for the NHL’s oldest team. Jarry made 32 saves, but the Penguins let a lead slip away late, a problem that plagued them at times last season.
“First game, I don’t think anybody is firing on all cylinders at this point,” Crosby said. “There are certainly some things we can do better, be more detailed defensively.”
Bedard’s arrival in the NHL has been anticipated for years, much like Crosby’s when the Penguins grabbed him with the top overall selection in 2005, all of 13 days after Bedard was born.
His arrival in Chicago has given the beleaguered franchise a much-needed jolt even though there are likely to be some growing pains on a team that has missed the playoffs five of the last six seasons as the dynasty that won three Stanley Cups between 2010 and 2015 faded.
Like Crosby, Bedard seems at ease with the attention that has followed him from childhood prodigy to the NHL, joking during the morning skate that he slept “like a baby.”
“He’s a very mature kid for his age,” Dickinson said. “There’s a ton that’s been put on him. It doesn’t seem to phase him. Doesn’t seem to even hit him.”
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