Connor Bedard and some of the other young Chicago Blackhawks had a few breakthrough moments during a 3-2 upset of the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon at the United Center.
Bedard scored the opening goal unassisted on a second-period power play — his 22nd of the season but just his fourth on the man advantage.
Radek Faksa blew a tire trying to cover him, and Bedard simply slipped down to the right dot, fired over Scott Wedgewood’s shoulder and banked the puck in off Nick Foligno’s arm.
Bedard also broke a seven-game goal drought and kicked off the Hawks’ three-goal run in a four-minute span.
“It feels like I’m on the schneid a lot,” he said. “Whenever you score one, it’s nice. It’s not easy to put them in, so it feels good.”
Andreas Athanasiou scored his first goal of the season, coming in his 11th game since returning March 12 from a hip/groin injury. But it was just as much as a confidence booster for Lukas Reichel.
Reichel, who has looked like a different player after a stint in Rockford, barreled down the middle through a couple of Stars defenders and backhanded a pass to Athanasiou for an easy wrister.
“That was sick,” Bedard said. “And that’s what he can do: He’s so skilled, so fast. If you’re watching him, iso-caming him, there’s so many little plays that he’s making every night. It’s good to see him get rewarded.”
Added coach Luke Richardson: “He didn’t quit on the play, he made the nice pass and stayed with it. And I think that made a big momentum difference in the game for us.”
“Yeah, that was sick.”
—Connor Bedard on Lukas Reichel’s backhand pass to Andreas Athanasiou for a goal pic.twitter.com/4EcnqbYLZu
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) April 6, 2024
Three minutes later, Ryan Donato connected with Seth Jones on a cross-ice pass, and Jones beat Scott Wedgewood from the left circle.
“Great feed. Risky play. I’m sure the coaches didn’t love it,” Jones laughed.
Richardson smiled when it was brought up.
“Donno one-touched it all the way … and Seth made a great shot,” he said. “They saw it and they made it work. And when they don’t make it work, then they’re going to hear about it.
“They have to be 100% sure — 110% sure — to make sure it worked.”
Seth Jones on Ryan Donato’s “risky” pass to Jones on his goal: “Great feed. Risky play. I’m sure the coaches didn’t love it.”
Richardson: “They saw it, and they made it work. And when they don't make it work, then they're going to hear about it.” pic.twitter.com/VW91Lgj1Ui
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) April 6, 2024
Roope Hintz answered for the Stars with a tip-in, and Jamie Benn scored the third period’s only goal with a tip-in off Miro Heiskanen that was upheld after review.
“Unfortunate on the tipped goal but we got the (interference) call on the one that was not a goal,” Richardson said.
Added Petr Mrázek: “I thought it was a high stick. It’s hard to say, I didn’t see the replay yet.”
The Hawks goalie admitted he was winded after facing 44 shots to the Hawks’ 17.
“Second period, especially,” he said. “I needed that break between the second and third. They were coming hard after the 5-on-3.”
The Hawks had something to prove after entering the season series finale 0-2-1.
Remember the trip-opening back-to-back in Dallas in which the Hawks lost Taylor Raddysh and Tyler Johnson to injuries and got shellacked 8-1 on New Year’s Eve?
“We feel better that we’re a little bit more healthy than we were in the middle of the season,” Richardson said before the game.
“I thought we played them really well, one game. We probably should have beat them in regulation. … We made some mistakes and we have to learn from that. And then they thumped us the one game on the second night.”
After the game, Jones was asked about the Hawks’ bend-but-don’t-break finish against a strong opponent.
“We tested it, we really did test it. We were close to snapping,” he said. “But with Petr in the net, he has our full trust that he’s going to make big saves for us, even when he probably shouldn’t make the saves, he’s going to make it
“Then you saw a lot of blocked shots in the second half of that game today. So that was good to see.”
The Stars aside, it’s just a plus for the Hawks to win their fourth game in the last six. They’re 8-8-0 in March.
“It’s big,” Bedard said. “It’s been a tough year with our record and everything, but it shows a lot about our group that we’re sticking with it, we’re still trying to get better every day.
“To see some results here in the last little bit is great for us.”