LOS ANGELES — It has to feel amazing, right? To barrel in on one of the best defensemen in the world, cut on a dime and turn him into a pretzel, then fire the kind of shot that only a handful of players in the world can pull off — going against your own momentum and picking the top corner on the far side.

Even Connor Bedard had to be impressed with himself after that goal in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.

Right?

“No, I think that’s a comfortable shot for me,” he said matter-of-factly Thursday morning. “I work on it a lot. Sometimes you hit your spot and sometimes you don’t. I never look at it that way too much. Just kind of happy it went in.”

OK, sure. But there has to at least be some extra satisfaction when you score one like that.

Right?

“I think every goal is pretty satisfying,” Bedard said with a laugh. “If it hits you in the ass and goes in, or if you dance around a couple guys and score, they all feel great.”

CONNOR BEDARD 🤯

We are running out of words to describe his goals. pic.twitter.com/NAmN1YAdQm

— NHL (@NHL) December 3, 2025

Well, that’s not exactly what happened in the second period of Thursday’s 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, but Bedard’s latest tally was a little more workmanlike. More Bertuzzi than Bedard, if you will. While Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi played catch in the opening seconds of a power play, Bedard slipped behind Kings defenseman Cody Ceci, perfectly timing his arrival with Bertuzzi’s centering pass from the corner. Bedard banged the puck in, was promptly tripped by Warren Foegele and landed hard on his backside, wrapping himself around the post, for his efforts.

It actually was pretty smooth — like a basketball player making a sneaky backdoor cut in the Princeton offense. But as Bedard said, any goal’s a good goal. And the Blackhawks’ 20-year-old superstar can’t stop scoring them.

There are countless other aspects of the Blackhawks game to discuss after this win. The way they never let up on offense and held onto a lead after sitting back and giving one up against Vegas. The way Spencer Knight keeps stringing together brilliant performances, making 26 saves. The way the penalty kill dominated the Kings power play, right down to a make-or-break Bedard penalty in the dying minutes of the third. The way Nazar’s finding his game again. And we’ll get to all that.

But it’s getting impossible not to talk about what Bedard is doing. In his last 19 games, he has 16 goals and 16 assists — jaw-dropping, megastar numbers. Nineteen games, that’s nearly a quarter of a season. This is no longer a hot streak, no longer a “good start.” This is what Bedard is. Who Bedard is. And he’s only getting better, even in the defensive zone. Later in the second period, he took the puck right off Trevor Moore’s stick at the point and got a breakaway opportunity out of it. Early in the third, he sprawled out in the slot to break up a Corey Perry shot attempt. He’s the Blackhawks’ best player, and with all due respect to Knight’s brilliance, the biggest reason they’re in a playoff spot in December, something that was unthinkable entering the season.

“He’s obviously taken that big step this year to that next level,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “This isn’t a good start to me; it is kind of what he is. We see it on a nightly basis. He does it different ways, gets opportunities different ways, and sets up a lot of guys, too. He could have more points, to be honest with you. It’s just been a good maturation process.”

After impressing once again Thursday night, Bedard appears to be only getting better. (Jayne Kamin / Oncea-Imagn Images)

Maturation was the theme of the night, particularly with how quickly the Blackhawks got a chance to redeem themselves after fumbling away a late lead and losing in a shootout to the Golden Knights, dropping a game they felt they should have won. When Trevor Moore scored midway through the third period to cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1, the Blackhawks didn’t retreat into a shell and sit back on the lead, wishing away the final minutes of the game the way they did in Vegas. They went on the attack. They pressed the issue. They won the game instead of trying not to lose it.

That was most evident in the way Nazar took an Oliver Moore chip in the neutral zone and turned on the afterburners, dashing at full speed to the net and drawing a tripping penalty on Mikey Anderson with 5:01 left in the game. It was anything but passive.

“It’s good to see some growth there,” said defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, whose rare goal in the second period stood as the game-winner. “As the 60 minutes goes, even if they come down and get a chance, we’re still pressing and pressing, not really taking our foot off the gas. It’s a good step forward for us.”

And when Bedard was called for a ticky-tack hooking penalty — mere minutes after Nazar took Joel Armia waterskiing with a comical hook that went uncalled — the Blackhawks didn’t sulk and didn’t wilt. The Kings pulled goalie Darcy Kuemper for the extra attacker, and the Blackhawks killed off the 6-on-4 with a gritty effort.

“It was good,” Knight said. “I think it’s really important for us to be in those situations. Because that’s just what good teams have to do and learn how to do. And I thought we really battled hard and a lot of guys made big plays in the end. Murph had a big block and Crevs just ate the puck the last few seconds, which was good. I think it feels good, too, when you get rewarded for that.”

Game observations

1. Knight has been bailing out his teammates all season, as he leads the league in goals saved above expected (up to more than 23, per Evolving Hockey, after Thursday’s effort). His teammates got to return the favor a few times against the Kings. Three times, Knight fumbled the puck behind the net, leaving the net wide open with several Kings in the vicinity. But all three times, the Blackhawks defenders collapsed on the net and somehow kept the puck out. It wasn’t always pretty, but Kings games rarely are.

“They’re great,” Knight said of his teammates. “Love playing with them. They’re just really smart players. It’s a young group that’s just growing and it’s really cool to see.”

2. Knight started to try to explain the reason for the Blackhawks’ penalty-killing prowess, but then thought better of it, deferring to assistant coach Michael Peca and the skaters, whom he said could explain the structure better than he could. Chicago was 5-for-5 on the kill on Thursday, and is now fourth in the league with an 85.3-percent kill rate. It starts with Ilya Mikheyev and Jason Dickinson, the top PK pair, but it seems like everyone Blashill throws out there succeeds.

Nazar, one of those killers to whom Knight deferred, got very technical with his explanation.

“Just dawgs, really,” he said. “We got some dawgs out there.”

3. Nazar hasn’t scored a goal since Oct. 28, and after he was denied on a quick breakaway early in the second period, it’s fair to wonder if he’ll ever score again. But with two assists, including a scrappy second-effort primary assist on Wyatt Kaiser’s goal with five seconds to play in the second period, Nazar now has points in four straight games, and eight assists in his last 10 games.

“It definitely helps, right?” he said of the assists. “Nobody wants to score more than I do right now. The chances are there, just gotta keep going, keep trying to execute.”

It’s easy to forget that Nazar is in his first full NHL season — like Rinzel, like Artyom Levshunov, like Ryan Greene, like Oliver Moore. In fact, Saturday’s game will be his 82nd career NHL game, one full season. It’s hardly uncommon for players to struggle with the grind of the season during the first full go-around. One of Blashill’s big talking points this season has been about being able to win when you don’t have your legs, when you don’t have your A-game — to settle for a B-game, never a C-game. That comes with time and experience. It’s OK if you’re not always scoring. It’s not OK if you’re actively hurting your team.

“It’s been up and down, it’s been an ebb and flow to it,” Blashill said of how Nazar and the other young players have handled the grind. “Frankie’s had like 80 games or something like that. He hasn’t even completed a full season over the course of two years. I think (Kaiser) is at 100, he hasn’t played a whole bunch of full seasons. And it’s just a learned thing. How have I seen us do it? Some nights good, and some nights not. … It’s part of the process with our guys, just continue to learn how to handle those moments.”

4. Sam Rinzel played just 51 seconds — one shift — in the third period against the Golden Knights. But Blashill wasn’t about to scratch the scuffling rookie and go back to a traditional 12-forward, six-defensemen lineup. Rinzel found himself stapled to the bench after a few defensive miscues against Vegas, but was back to his normal spot as the seventh defenseman against the Kings. It’s a far cry from where he started the season — the presumptive No. 1 defenseman and top power-play quarterback — but Rinzel has been better since his healthy scratch on Nov. 15, with five assists in nine games, despite limited minutes.

“Overall, he’s played more good hockey than not,” Blashill said. “It’s just part of the process. When he’s at his best, he’s controlling the puck. It’s learning how much time and space you have at this level. It’s something (that) as he gets stronger, (it) will help him, too. He’s still figuring some of that out. I just think body position defensively is a big one for him. When his body position’s good defensively, you just ultimately don’t give up as many easy chances.”

Rinzel played 13:13 on Friday, up four minutes from his career low against Vegas. The Kings had a 26-8 edge in shot attempts and a 12-3 edge in scoring chances with him on the ice.

5. The Blackhawks will be right back at Crypto.com Arena for a practice on Friday, then a return match against the Kings on Saturday. Outside of the Covid season, it’s just the second time the Blackhawks have played back-to-back road games against the same team in more than a decade. Much like in a playoff series, it’ll be interesting to see which teams makes the best adjustments between Game 1 and Game 2.

“I was in college for 11 years as a coach, and we did it almost every weekend,” Blashill said. “They’re unique. I actually love it. Certainly from a travel perspective, it’s way better. You play your game and you’re able to make those adjustments heading into the next game. And their staff is going to do the same thing, so it’ll be a fun challenge, for sure.”