Hawks, Bedard bedeviled: Rookie phenom unable to return after crushing hit by New Jersey’s Smith
Before the Blackhawks dropped a 4-2 decision at New Jersey on Friday, all the talk was about Connor Bedard becoming the youngest player to be chosen to the All-Star Game.
Afterward, that talk changed to concern for the Hawks' rookie, who left the game midway through the first period after taking a vicious open-ice hit by defenseman Brendan Smith.
With the Hawks on the power play, Bedard raced into the offensive zone and knifed through a pair of Devils. Bedard then looked down for a split second as he attempted to go backhand-forehand, and that's when the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Smith lowered his right shoulder and slammed into Bedard's jaw.
The rookie phenom grabbed his mouth after hitting the ice, then skated to the locker room.
He did not return.
Coach Luke Richardson did not have any update on Bedard or Nick Foligno, who was injured in the second period and also did not return.
“We're gonna get … everybody checked out at home to see if there's anything further,” Richardson said. “Hopefully, we'll know more tomorrow. We'll have to have practice probably because afternoon game (against Calgary) the following day.”
Not long after Bedard departed, Hawks defenseman Connor Murphy blasted Nico Hischier against the boards. The hit sent the Devils' star forward to the locker room, but Hischier did return.
By the time the second period was over, 62 penalty minutes were called on both teams. Alex Vlasic racked up 17 for instigator, fighting and misconduct penalties at 5:02 of the second, and Foligno tallied 4 for a pair of roughing penalties just after Bedard went down and 5 more when he fought Smith at 5:04 of the second.
“That's the culture we want to build here,” defenseman Jarred Tinordi said when asked about Foligno's minute-long tussle. “Nick drives the ship. That was great to see. I think we needed that. Everybody has each other's backs in here, no matter what we're going through. …
“The team fought hard tonight. We just didn't get it done.”
The Hawks came into Friday with seven players already on injured reserve: Defenseman Seth Jones and forwards Tyler Johnson, Taylor Hall, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Beauvillier, Joey Anderson and Taylor Raddysh.
Bedard, who leads all rookies with 15 goals and 18 assists and is the first Hawks rookie to be chosen since goalie Tony Esposito in 1969-70, talked pregame about what the selection meant.
“I don't know,” he said nonchalantly. “Of course it's exciting and something you watch growing up. Seeing the list of guys going, it should be fun. I don’t think about being the youngest or whatever too much. It’s just exciting to be a part of it.”
Bedard was asked if he can learn from fellow all-stars like Edmonton's Connor McDavid, Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Detroit's Alex DeBrincat and others.
“When you can just be with those guys, seeing how they act and how they are with people, I think it's definitely big and a bonus,” Bedard said. “Just watching them and being around guys that have done everything in the league, it's good for me to learn from them.”
The All-Star Game is Feb. 3 at Toronto.
A power-play goal by Jason Dickinson (13) and a short-handed tally by Boris Katchouk (3) staked the Hawks to a 2-1 lead after two periods, but the Devils came back thanks to third-period goals by Simon Nemec at 5:41 and Michael McLeod goal at 11:56.
Hawks goalie Arvid Soderblom stopped 22 of 23 shots through two periods but gave up 2 goals on 8 third-period attempts.
The Devils (21-14-2) have won five of six and come from behind a league-best 14 times to claim victory. The Hawks (11-26-2) have lost five straight and been outscored 19-4 in their last four games.