It had been 41 days since Connor Bedard touched ice with an opponent on the other side, but it didn’t take long Thursday before he flashed a sign of his old self.
In the second period of the Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bedard took a quick dish from Nick Foligno, curled around the defense and sauced a pass to Philipp Kurashev, who scored.
It was a signature moment, one of several along Bedard’s comeback trail from a broken jaw.
“He’s really worked on his conditioning and it showed tonight,” coach Luke Richardson said. “I didn’t see any drop-off.”
Overall, Bedard said he felt “pretty good.”
“Obviously tough start with being out for a couple (months),” he said. “But I was pretty excited to get going and energy-wise felt good. Yeah, it was good to be back for sure.”
Here are 10 moments on Bedard’s journey back from injury.
"Pretty good. Obviously tough to start with being out for a couple (months). But I was pretty excited to get going and energy-wise felt good."
–Connor Bedard on his return from a broken jaw pic.twitter.com/GX4nipvpw6
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) February 16, 2024
1. He didn’t know the magnitude of the moment.
On Jan. 5, Bedard fractured his jaw during a collision with New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith.
“It was a normal play,” Bedard said. “Just making an entry and the puck kind of bounced and went forward. I saw him, but I thought I’d finish the play and kick it out. Wasn’t really a hard hit, it was clean. It just kind of got me in a spot where it happened to break my jaw.”
He was trying to play the puck, but in retrospect he said he should’ve bailed on the play.
Even at that moment, however, he wasn’t fully aware of the severity of the damage.
“It was just weird,” he said. “My face was numb and stuff and my bite was off, which was kind of the only thing. They told me that it was broken, and I just thought of (Zdeno) Chara going back in the bubble, so I didn’t think too much of it. But obviously it’s not Game 7 of the Cup Final.
“You’ve got to wait and let it heal. It sucked, but right in the moment, I knew something was a little weird. But you never really know.”
"It was just weird. My face was numb and stuff and my bite was off, which was kind of the only thing. They told me that it was broken, I guess."
–Connor Bedard on whether he initially knew how serious his jaw injury was pic.twitter.com/KKE1pWCOJ4
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) February 16, 2024
2. The healing process begins.
Bedard had surgery on Jan. 8 and dealt with some discomfort.
“My face was a little chubby for a bit there,” he said. “After the surgery, I was lucky. It was a couple days (where) you’re kind of feeling it. But I felt pretty good. … It was weird, for sure, but overall it wasn’t bad.”
With his jaw wired, eating could’ve been a real task, but he had help.
“I had my mom here, so I was pretty lucky that way,” Bedard said. “If not, it would have been tough. She was great.
“And (chef) Dee Dee (Saracco) is our meals person — she was awesome. I got a lot of help from everyone with that, smoothies and soup, whatever, for a little bit. After a couple weeks I was able to eat more stuff, so it wasn’t too bad.”
3. A higher hurdle? Sitting out of the action.
By all accounts, Bedard had a tough time not playing or even fully practicing.
“Every day … you could see he wanted to go,” Kurashev said.
Trainers had to preach patience. Bedard had to internalize it.
“I mean, it’s frustrating watching and you can’t be out there with your guys and try to help them win and go to battle with them,” he said. “It’s what I love to do and it’s all I really want, so it’s just nice to be back for sure.”
4. A chance to play — but ‘be truthful.’
Doctors evaluated Bedard on Wednesday and were ready to clear him — ahead of schedule — but Bedard had to meet with management before he could get back on the ice.
Richardson said he, general manager Kyle Davidson and associate GM Norm Maciver met with Bedard on Wednesday.
“Kyle did say that you have to be truthful,” Richardson said, and that Bedard should fess up “if you feel a little bit of shyness.”
Bedard was very communicative and said he felt great, Richardson said before Thursday’s game.
“But also just the body language felt, no hesitancy at all,” he said. Bedard was “sharp, hard turns, turning into a check, and driving the net.”
Bedard said after the game it was “a conversation about how I felt.”
“They were really good with that, just letting me make the decision,” he said. “Not make the decision — obviously there was a say from everyone — but I felt like it wasn’t one-sided at all. It was kind of both of us having more of a conversation about it.
“So I have a good relationship with (Davidson) and obviously the coaching staff. I was grateful they let me go tonight.”
5. Warming up.
Bedard, wearing a bubble face shield, burst onto the ice for warmups, took some laps, took shots, practiced stickhandling and even tried a trick. He flipped a puck in the air and tried to catch it on his stick but couldn’t quite stick the landing.
He stayed on the ice for a while, seemingly as long as he could. Kurashev and Ryan Donato were the last holdouts to follow him off the ice.
Bedard received a loud ovation at the United Center when his name was announced in the starting lineup.
Connor Bedard with a little stick trick during warmups. pic.twitter.com/WuA1eBrzZt
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) February 16, 2024
6. First faceoff.
In a full-circle moment, Bedard got to face off against childhood favorite Sidney Crosby for the opening puck drop — just as he did for the opening puck drop of his career.
Just like in October, Bedard lost the opening faceoff Thursday. Only this time Crosby scored 15 seconds into the game.
If Bedard could’ve picked a game to make his comeback, it probably would’ve been one against Crosby. So did he?
“Probably earlier,” Bedard joked. “But obviously you’ve got to be safe and smart, and we’ve got good people working and I trust them. They told me I was ready to go today and I was excited.”
7. A big turnover led to the Penguins’ second goal.
Bedard attempted a cross-ice pass in the Hawks offensive zone, but Drew O’Connor batted it down, whipped around and led a rush the other way before feeding Reilly Smith coming up the middle behind Bedard.
Smith deked Bedard and backhanded a roofer past Hawks goalie Arvid Söderblom.
8. Bedard makes a point.
Midway through the second period, Bedard couldn’t cash in on a setup to Kurashev, but Kevin Korchinski kept the puck in the zone and the Hawks continued to press.
Bedard got the puck again from Foligno, skated around the defense and found little between him and Kurashev but space and opportunity.
Ryan Graves drove to try to break up the connection with his stick, but Bedard sauced over to Kurashev, who snapped it by Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.
Philipp Kurashev gets one back
pic.twitter.com/drq4s9CxkX
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 16, 2024
Connor first point back (on the mic
) pic.twitter.com/yI6hasbojX
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 16, 2024
“He made a great play and it was great to see one go in,” Kurashev said. “Of course it didn’t matter then, we still lost. But it was nice to see him back and healthy and playing again.”
Said Richardson: “I think that line found each other, especially by the second period. They really had lots of opportunities.”
9. A test of timidity.
Would Bedard show any tentativeness about taking contact? At that stage of the second period, the opposite appeared to be true.
Bedard seemed to be feeling it after his assist, and he tried to split Graves and fellow defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Graves appeared to trip Bedard, but “he still had the puck,” Richardson said. “They just took his body and he went down. He still had the puck.
“Maybe if he laid it behind earlier, that’s interference. But I don’t think that was the call.”
In the greater scheme, Bedard got up unscathed and kept trucking.
“He went in a couple of times when he had to go between the player and the boards,” Richardson said. “He didn’t look shy at all. He went in there and took it.
“Going through the middle (between Graves and Karlsson), he tried to attack like he did before he got injured. He’s ready to play and I think he’s full throttle.”
10. Power player.
Bedard broke his stick on a power-play shot and promptly got a replacement from the bench.
“He got unlucky a couple of times with a broken stick at the wrong time,” Richardson said. “You never know when those sticks are going to break, unfortunately.
“But I thought he skated well and had some pep in his stride. He looked raring to go.”
Bedard drew a holding penalty on Rickard Rakell with 1:20 left, giving the Hawks a last-minute power play.
“It wasn’t the hardest call at the end either,” Richardson said. “So they gave us an opportunity then, six on four, but we just couldn’t get it done.”
