2023-12-24 06:21:49
Bedard, meanwhile, leads all NHL rookies in goals (13), assists (17) and points (30) in 33 games.
Even more impressive is Bedard did in front of ‘The Great One,’ Wayne Gretzky, who was in attendance.
“He’s been fun to watch, and he’s been better than we probably anticipated, not only an ambassador on the ice, he’s been tremendous off the ice for an 18-year-old man,” Gretzky told Bally Sports Midwest. “I’m happy for him. He’s got the right coach in Luke Richardson, the right organization. But I mightn’t do what he did tonight. That just wasn’t in my repertoire. ‘Hullie’ [Brett Hull] might do it. I might never do what [Bedard] did tonight. My daughter Emma is with me and she goes, ‘Dad, did you ever do that?’ I said, ‘No, I might never do that.'”
The Blues and the sellout crowd of 18,096 were stunned in awe, and it shook the team up, albeit momentarily. Anthony Beauvillier scored 23 seconds later at 4:12 to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead.
But St. Louis rebounded from a 5-2 deficit in the third period to win 7-5, but it mightn’t help but be impressed by Bedard’s display.
“It was elite,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “I [hadn’t] seen one live, to be honest. I thought that kind of took the wind out of our sails. We scored early. I thought we were playing OK. I didn’t think we were carrying the game. But I thought when that happened, we took a step back from what we were doing. I don’t know if you can defend that.
“It happens so quick, and it was clean. ‘Binner,’ he didn’t have a chance. I thought we might’ve been quicker to close when he was behind the net. That might’ve stopped that from happening. But that’s a really highly skilled play by a good player. You’ve got to give him credit.”
Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson was obviously disappointed regarding the loss, but like everyone else, he can’t help but be wowed by Bedard’s skill.
“We’ve seen a couple of things like that; it definitely happens quickly,” Richardson said. “He’s got quick hands. I didn’t even realize what happened until it went in. That’s the vision that he has. He can see that. When the puck was probably wobbling a little bit, he gets his blade under it and he can scoop it as he’s moving, so he’s able to do those things. Unfortunately, we mightn’t propel that into a win tonight.”
NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Arritt contributed to this report
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