Connor Bedard Is Back To Doing Connor Bedard Things After Missing 14 Games With A Broken Jaw
When Connor Bedard went down with a nasty broken jaw early last month, I was curious to see if he would be able to jump back into the line-up and continue producing offensively the way he was before his injury.
In short: it has not been an issue.
Bedard returned from Injury on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins rocking the fishbowl as he continues to work toward a full recovery.
That game didn't go according to plan and the Blackhawks lost 4-1 extending a losing streak that began while Bedard was out of the lineup.
Still, the rookie had 4 shots on goal and an assist. Not a bad night.
But things really got on track Saturday against the Ottawa Senators.
Bedard assisted on Nick Foligno's opening tally but managed to get one of his own just past the midway point of the second period.
Nice solid goal to bring his season point total to 36, which makes him the Blackhawks' leading scorer… even after missing 14 games.
However, later in the game, Bedard nearly had himself a highlight reel goal that was unfortunately disallowed after a challenge revealed Chicago had entered the zone offside,
Man, I wish that goal would've stood. Luckily for the Blackhawks, he scored the game-winner a few minutes later to snap their losing skid.
So, in his two games back Bedard has himself three points. That's impressive. I know we all expect him to be a generational talent — I mean, he is one — but I was curious to see how he'd handle the first major setback of his NHL career.
Would he get the yips? Maybe need a little bit of time to heat up?
Turns out neither. The dude picked up right where he left off and I think that's a quality that you see in a lot of the game's best players.
Not that we needed any more proof that Connor Bedard is the real deal, we nonetheless got another one since his return.