The Chicago Blackhawks earned a huge win over the surging Colorado Avalanche at home on Wednesday night — and Connor Bedard was the catalyst. The 19-year-old increased his career-best point streak to eight games, recording a goal and an assist in a 3-1 triumph at the United Center.
In the process, Bedard tallied his 65th career National Hockey League assist, tying Hawks legend Patrick Kane for the second most by a teenager in franchise history, behind only Eddie Olczyk (80), according to NHL Public Relations.
He’s also just the third Hawks teenager to achieve a point streak of that length; only Jonathan Toews (10 GP in 2007-08) and Olczyk (9 GP in 1985-86) have managed longer ones.
“Felt good … that’s obviously a good team,” Bedard said afterwards, per NHL.com’s Bruce Miles. “A lot of shifts are going to be 50/50, but I thought we had some good plays. Overall, it was a pretty good game from our whole group, and obviously Petr was unbelievable.”
Bedard recorded an assist on Ilya Mikheyev’s first period goal, before giving his team a 3-1 lead halfway through the final frame. After taking a pass from linemate Tyler Bertuzzi, he whipped a wicked wrist shot past Avs goaltender Trent Miner, who was making his first career NHL start.
Connor Bedard's release… blink and you'll miss it
pic.twitter.com/bDq4ZdAGeV
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 9, 2025
Petr Mrazek made 35 saves for Chicago, who improved to 14-25-2 with the win.
“They played a great hockey game,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said, per Miles. “Didn’t mind a lot of ours, either. I didn’t like some of the things we did on both those goals against, like both turnovers and missing checks on the way in, the first two. On the other side of it, we needed to make it a little more difficult for Mrazek even though when we shot it to the net we came up with some really dangerous rebound scoring chances. But he was pretty good too. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Despite the victory, the Blackhawks are still struggling mightily and sit dead last in the Western Conference in 2024-25.
Connor Bedard, Blackhawks looking for better fortune in 2025
It’s been another long season for Bedard and his squad; the Hawks had lost six of seven games before Wednesday’s tight victory. But January has been kinder to the club, with Chicago winning two times in three tries since the calendar flipped.
That included an impressive 4-2 victory over the red hot Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.
The hope in the Windy City is that the team can start to build some positive momentum in 2025, rather than continue fading away in the playoff race. As of Thursday, the Hawks remain a full 16 points back of the final wildcard berth in the conference.
Although the most likely result is a low finish and another high draft selection, the Hawks still have exactly half of their schedule — and 41 games — to play.
Chicago will look to keep the wins coming against Kane and the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night in Motown. Puck is set to drop just past 7:00 p.m. from Little Caesars Arena.
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