Connor Bedard’s most impressive play Sunday wasn’t his power-play goal that put the Blackhawks on the board early in the first period.
Instead, it was a play that didn’t make it into the box score.
He deked through three tightly packed Blue Jackets — Kent Johnson, Zach Werenski and Jake Christiansen — to get off a hard shot on a power play in the second period.
Individually, Connor Bedard looks more and more like himself: pic.twitter.com/xQomnuNi4V
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 1, 2024
Bedard’s hand-eye coordination and puck control were impeccable, and his vision and creativity were elite. Best of all, though, he looked confident in all of those skills again — just like he did most of last season and unlike he did in most of November.
‘‘He’s obviously got the hands and the vision,’’ defenseman Alex Vlasic said. ‘‘He’s starting to do really well these last couple of games.’’
The 19-year-old forward — still the second-youngest player in the NHL — seems to have put his drought behind him.
Bedard now is riding a three-game point streak and has nine shots on goal and 13 shots in the last two games. He wasn’t perfect in the Hawks’ 6-3 loss Sunday — he shouldn’t have forced a pass to Philipp Kurashev on a two-on-one rush later in the second, for example — but he looked dangerous.
He even made a crucial block in the first period that might’ve prevented a Blue Jackets goal. He quietly has been much more involved in that defensive category this season: He’s up to 17 blocked shots, compared with 27 all of last season.
Backup goalie Arvid Soderblom likely will start for the Hawks on Monday in Toronto. It’s an opportunity for him to continue his strange domination of the Maple Leafs, whom he beat twice last season with 35- and 34-save performances.
It’s also an opportunity for Soderblom to earn a larger share of the Hawks’ workload moving forward because Petr Mrazek, who has made 18 starts to Soderblom’s six this season, has struggled in the last two games.
