‘Dumb play by me.’ Connor Bedard learns valuable lessons from a split-second decision that led to Chicago Blackhawks’ OT loss.
DALLAS — Connor Bedard learned in a split second there’s a fine line between hero and scapegoat.
It happened during the last play of Friday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars.
As Miro Heiskanen drop-passed to Roope Hintz at center ice, Bedard circled behind Heiskanen and went for the pokecheck on Hintz and a potential breakaway chance to win the game.
He missed.
Hintz moved the puck out of reach and shrugged off Bedard with his left arm. Then it went tick-tack-toe — Hintz to Heiskanen to Jason Robertson back to Hintz — before Hintz beat Petr Mrázek on the tip-in with 8 seconds left.
“Yeah, like you said, tried to get the puck. That was a dumb play,” Bedard told the Tribune on Sunday before the Chicago Blackhawks’ rematch at American Airlines Center. Dallas won that game as well, 8-1.
“Dumb play by me. Probably not the right situation. So I learned from it.”
Bedard certainly has the skills to take such a risk, steal the puck and turn it into a climactic ending in the other net.
But this is where, with more NHL experience, the calculus changes based on who is on the ice and the game situation.
“I mean, for sure, go for it sometimes,” Bedard said. “But obviously, it was (Hintz). What my angle was coming in, I’m probably not going to get that puck, just with his reach and the way to bring it out. So I should play it safe there.”
Nick Foligno, who was on the ice for the game-winning goal, understood what Bedard was trying to do, but there was a lesson he needed to learn.
“He’s trying to take away the puck, or at least make him make a move, and there’s some really good players in overtime right there. They’re not going to get too caught up in what you’re trying to do, they have the skill to maybe get around you.
“And that’s a learning curve for him.”
Foligno said if Bedard defended the play just a little bit better, he might have had a scoring opportunity.
“He plays off instincts,” Foligno said after practice Saturday. “The experiences he’s had over the course of 35 games, there’s still a lot to learn and understand about the league. And that’s one where I’m sure if he could do it again, he probably would maybe take a different angle or try to approach it a little bit differently.
“You never know, he might strip him and he goes on a breakaway too, right?”
Foligno said with young players you have to let them play and “understand that there’s risk and reward in everything. And last night it caught us.”
Coach Luke Richardson takes a more bird’s-eye view of Bedard’s overall performance during the overtime, given that it was only his fifth time playing in one.
Richardson said Bedard defended Heiskanen well early in the overtime.
“Like, he was great, right? Moving his feet, stayed above him and made him turn back twice,” the coach said. “And that’s what he’s going to have to do on the last one. But he was trying to steal the puck with 10 seconds left to go for the win. And unfortunately, Hintz, he’s just a big strong guy, kind of powered through his stick, and that created a three-on-two” against Foligno and Isaak Phillips.
“That’s overtime, that’s usually what happens. You’re trying to make a play, and if the other team makes the play on you, well, then it’s going to be an outnumbered situation.”
