His Star Power is Rising…

His Star Power is Rising…

Blackhawks fans spent the entire off season praying for that leap. The moment Connor Bernard shifts from promising kid to full-blown superstar. And through two games, you can already see it happening. He looks quicker, sharper, and way more sure of himself. I know it’s only two games, but the confidence is radiating off every stride. He’s loading up that one-time with zero hesitation. And if he keeps ripping it like this, goalies across the league better start bracing themselves. It’s not just the shot volume that’s up. His vision just feels surgical. That vision was on full display on Krebier’s goal. What’s really standing out though are the little things and I think is the most encouraging, the plays that don’t always show up on the stat sheet. He’s mixing it up after whistles, getting right in the middle of scrums, showing that edge fans have been wanting to see. He even drew a call on Charlie Makavoy in the third, goating him into a penalty. That’s the kind of call he probably doesn’t get in his first two seasons. Shows the league is starting to give him some respect. Following the game, Bernard kept it grounded. I thought our battles were better. I loved how we bounced back after their goals. That’s important. I thought we were better, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to get two points. Classic Bard, mature, competitive, and already sounding like a young Jonathan Taves. The Chicago Blackhawks picked up their first point of the 2026 season in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins. Bard, Crevier, and Burkovski all found the back of the net in regulation. Overtime was chaos in the best way. Nazar and Bernard each had golden chances to seal it, but Yonis Corposal just turned into 2011 Tim Thomas. You can’t even be mad. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap when a goalie decides to stand on his head like that. The Hawks looked noticeably sharper at five on five, a big step up from their opener against Florida. The Bruins don’t bring the same firepower as the Panthers, but Chicago still tightened things up in all the right areas. After surrendering 32 scoring chances and 14 high danger looks on Tuesday, they held Boston to just 19 and8. You can see it. The Hawks are starting to look like a team figuring it out. Head coach Jeff Blash’ll echo that after the game. We had a lot of winning plays, winning habits like stopping on pucks. Those are big things for us to continue to get better at. The disappointing part is that we want to find a way to win these close games. To do that, you have to have great winning habits, and we took a step forward in that. It’s early, but the signs are there. The effort, the structure, the buyin, the foundation is starting to form. I already talked about how electric Bard looked, but the box score backs it up. He finished the night with a goal, an assist, two shots on goal, seven shot attempts, a hit, and a block shot, filling up the stat sheets in all the right ways. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of advanced stats. I don’t think they tell the whole story like some fans believe, but at five on five, his impact was hard to ignore. He posted a 58.3 Corsy 4% helping the Hawks control play with a 21 to 15 shot attempt advantage while he was on the ice. And I guess you can say some things never change. The only blemish on Bernard’s game was that he lost all five of his faceoffs, something he needs to clean up as the season goes on. Another standout from Thursday night’s game came between the pipes where Arvid Solderblum picked up right where Spencer Knight left off. On paper, a match up between Solderbloom and Corposalo didn’t scream goalending duel, but at times that’s exactly what it became. Each goalie had their moments that kept their squad in it. Solder Bloom’s highlight came late in regulation, sliding to his right to deny Tanner Jano. Corpus Salow, on the other hand, literally stole the game in overtime, first robbing Frank Nazar, then shutting down Connor Badard just seconds later. Not long after that, Fraser Mitten found the back of the net to seal it for Boston. Soda’s rebound control wasn’t perfect, but the picture was clear. He made 29 saves and earned his team a hard-fought point. Helping Chicago grab that same point. Andre Burkovsky has been looking fantastic as he settles into that top line in just his second game. His goal and assist gave him his first two points as a Blackhawk while Chicago controlled the play with a 21-8 shot attempt advantage while he was on the ice. And Colton Doc is slowly becoming a favorite of mine. The Doc’s play on Bard’s goal was perfect. It showcased why fans were so eager to see him in a Blackhawks jersey, why Blash was such a fan, and why he earned a spot on the top line this game. Doc absorbed a crushing hit from Nikita Zidorov just to get the puck to Burkovski, who set up Bard’s lethal one-time. Doc finished the night with six hits, second only to Zidorov, who was moving around like Scott Stevens back in a one. On the flip side, Matt Grizzlick had a pretty rough night. He got caught in front of his net frozen twice tonight watching the puck slip past Soda. To his credit though he did redeem himself tying up Jano’s stick shortly after the Bruins second goal to prevent an easy tap in. Blahill rolled seven defenseman and 11 forwards with Krevier added late. A move that paid off when he scored. The lineup was tested though after Jason Dickinson left the game in the second period with an apparent shoulder injury forcing the Hawks to play down two forwards. It also raises questions. If Sam Laughafer isn’t on the penalty kill and is being scratched to make room for a seventh defenseman, what is his role on the team? All in all, this was a good solid effort. Bard is looking legit. Burkovsky and Doc showed their growing chemistry with the top line and Solder Bloom kept them in it when it mattered most. I’m all for seeing Doc get more ice time. It’ll be interesting to see how the team handles his role moving forward. There were mistakes and questions to iron out like faceoffs, defensive lapses, and lineup tweaks. But the effort, energy, and flashes of skill are impossible to ignore.

His star power is rising…
Blackhawks fans spent the entire offseason praying for that leap, the moment Connor Bedard shifts from promising kid to full-blown superstar. And through just two games, you can already see it happening. #chicagoblackhawks #blackhawks #chicago #nhl #hockey #connorbedard #icehockeyteam audio credit @WhiteBatAudio
first channel @MSZFilms