Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard faced his San Jose Sharks counterpart Macklin Celebrini for the first time in their careers, but the first battle between the NHL’s last two No. 1 draft picks had an anticlimactic finish.
Bedard rode the pine for 10 minutes late in the game because of “abuse of officials,” and the Hawks lost 4-2 to the last-place Sharks.
All Bedard could do was watch from the penalty box as Vincent Desharnais bowled over Frank Nazar in the neutral zone and Tyler Toffoli took the puck and lofted it into an empty net for an insurance goal.
“Tough point in the game to have something like that and call something like that,” Nazar said about the penalty.
Bedard and Celebrini took the opening faceoff, which Bedard won. But Celebrini had a much more effective game.
The Sharks forward assisted Will Smith on the opening goal, and Celebrini drew a cross-checking penalty that led to Collin Graf’s power-play goal.
Meanwhile, Bedard didn’t record a shot on goal and had only two shot attempts.
Perhaps frustration was high when the referees missed an apparent tripping penalty in the third period with the Hawks down 3-2, and Bedard had words of some kind for referee Chris Rooney while on the bench.
“Yeah, obviously it’s not too fun,” Bedard said about missing the rest of the game when the Hawks most needed him. “So I’ve got to be smarter with my words there. I’m supposed to be out there in those situations, so it’s frustrating to have to watch.”
“It’s not ideal obviously,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said.
Rooney wasn’t available to speak to reporters and Bedard didn’t volunteer what he said, so at this stage it’s not clear if Rooney overreacted or Bedard mouthed off.
“I guess he just didn’t like what I said, so that’s how it goes,” Bedard said. “I didn’t think it was too crazy. But he’s a ref, so he gets to make that call. So you’ve got to live with it.”
Sorensen’s frustration seemed palpable after the game.
“I’ve heard worse,” he said.
Chalk this up as one of those lessons for Bedard. Players bark at the refs all the time, but there’s an art to it. Hawks captain Nick Foligno does it a lot, yet he manages to stay out of their doghouse.
Perhaps something about Bedard’s bedside manner is off-putting, especially coming from a 19-year-old when you’re a veteran official like Rooney, who officiated his first game nearly 25 years ago and has worked six Stanley Cup Finals, including the Hawks’ win over the Boston Bruins in 2013.
Here are four takeaways from the game.
1. The Hawks’ rebound was too little, too late.
They clearly were caught off guard by the Sharks in the first period and didn’t match their energy until the second.
Nazar put the Hawks on the board 10 seconds into the period, and Ilya Mikheyev added his 15th goal of the season. But the Hawks couldn’t cash in on other chances.
“Coming out from the hop is a big part,” Nazar said. “Kind of dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t get out of it.”
The result was a third straight loss, though their play had been trending upward.
“I feel like we’ve taken some steps lately in the past week and a bit,” Bedard said. “I guess two days off is too much for us. Couldn’t keep it together.”
2. Frank Nazar has been a penalty magnet.
Since getting called up Dec. 13, Nazar has drawn 13 penalties to lead the Hawks, including Noah Gregor’s holding infraction in the first period that provided the game’s first power play.
Tyler Bertuzzi is second in that span with 10 penalties drawn and leads for the season with 18.
I was curious how much of an effect Nazar was having on the power play, so I compared the unit before he arrived.
Now, take the following with a grain of salt because a bunch of other factors are at work — such as personnel changes (including Nazar himself), strength of the penalty kills they’re facing, strength of the advantage — but here you go:
- Before Nazar: Hawks scored on 18 of 75 power-play opportunities with a per-game average of a goal for every three power plays.
- After Nazar: Hawks have scored on 20 of 78 opportunities with a per-game average of a goal for every two power plays.
In the big picture, it’s a testament to Nazar’s motor and how defenders are struggling to keep up with him.
“It’s good for the confidence just being able to go out there and know you’re moving well,” he said.”
Sorensen added: “I liked his game a lot. I liked his pace of play, driving his feet, creating a lot. He wanted the puck, he demanded the puck.”
3. Spencer Knight had a tough outing.
The goalie made his fourth start for the Hawks and gave up three goals. He has had rougher nights for the Florida Panthers, and he allowed three to the Utah Hockey Club on March 7, though the Hawks won that game in overtime.
The Sharks’ first goal was a gimme, a softy by Smith. It looked like Knight misjudged the angle or perhaps was screened by teammate Colton Dach.
In any event, he had a stronger game the rest of the way. Graf’s first goal came on a short-range one-timer and his second came on the power play.
4. Artyom Levshunov looked tentative at times in his second NHL game.
I mentioned in this space before that Levshunov could stand to be more aggressive in his puck decisions on the power play, and against the Sharks he passed up a good chance from the middle to defer to Teuvo Teräväinen on the wing. Teräväinen put up a weak shot, only because he was forced to.
Levshunov’s one shot on goal was a rocket of a one-timer from the point in the second period that hit the post. But it just underscored the need for him to be a bit more selfish.
“Maybe a little bit (passive),” Sorensen said. “He did some good things, though. I think consistency, learning to play at this level. They came out hard, though, and it was fast, but I thought he settled in.”
