Blackhawks, Connor Bedard's "Frustrating" Rookie Season Ends With A 5-4 OT Loss in L.A.

After winning the NHL’s draft lottery and adding Connor Bedard, the Chicago Blackhawks were hoping for an upbeat 2023-24 season.

No one expected the Blackhawks to rocket upward, but as coach Luke Richardson said, “We want to win.”

Arvid Söderblom was tested by the Kings. Quinton Byfield scores here from the edge of the crease. USA Today Network, Gary A. Vasquez

The Blackhawks didn’t come close, finishing with their worst winning percentage in nearly 70 years after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Kings in Los Angeles in their season finale.

They didn’t improve even with Bedard, who finished as the NHL’s leading rookie scorer. The heralded top draft pick of 2023 had 22 goals, 39 assists and 61 points in 68 games. He missed 14 with a broken jaw.

The Blackhawks limped in at 23-53-6. Their 52 points were seven fewer than 2022-23, when they were 26-49-7. Chicago’s .317 points (winning) percentage was its eighth-worst in 98 seasons in the NHL and lowest since the team finished at .307 in 1954-55.

With their victory, the Kings move on to face Edmonton in the opening round of the playoffs.

Bedard Frustrated in Finale

Bedard was shut down in L.A. USA Today Network, Gary A. Vasquez

Bedard was held off the scoresheet by the Kings, taking only one shot on goal. He was a minus-3 in the game and finished a minus-44 on the season.

Los Angeles outshot the Blackhawks 36-13.

“It’s been a frustrating year with… the record,” Bedard said before the game. “Personally, I think I was OK a lot, but not maybe as good as I hoped, or whatever, but I think that’s part of it. Just kind of learning. Feel like I improved throughout the year, which is big, but I think for this summer I’ve got lots of areas to improve.”

Bedard still won’t say if he hopes to skate for Canada at the World Championships in Prague in May.

Surge, Then Collapse in Los Angeles

The Kings Viktor Arvidsson scored his second goal of game with 1:21 left in regulation to tie it, connecting on a power-play and with goalie Cam Talbot pulled for an extra attacker. Then Adrian Kempe swept in and beat Arvid Söderblom with a rising shot from the right circle just 6 seconds into overtime.

This loss was especially demoralizing after Tyler Johnson, Joey Anderson and Ryan Donato scored in a 5-minute span early in the third period to put Chicago ahead 4-3. The surge came after the Kings seemingly had taken charge with three goals in the second.

“We really got out legs moving,” Richardson said. “We have to learn we have the ability to come back in a game and we have to learn how to hold on to a lead.”

Lukas Reichel scored his best goal of the season on his best move of the season. USA Today Network, Gary A. Vasquez

Lukas Reichel scored his fifth — and most impressive — goal of the season to open the scoring with 4:21 left in the first. The enigmatic, wiry German dashed down the ice from a faceoff, raced between two Kings defender and beat Talbot with snazzy backhander.

Reichel, the Blackhawks 2020 first-round draft pick, will now head to AHL Rockford to work on his inconsistent game.

The Kings poured it on in the second, taking a 3-1 advantage on Arvidsson first goal — through Söderblom’s five-hole from a sharp angle — a tip-in by Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore’s team-leading 31st.

In the third, Johnson fired in a shot from the slot to cut it to 3-2 at 1:28. Anderson tied it at 3 just over two minutes later, racing in after rookie Landon Slaggert leveraged the puck off Kings captain Anze Kopitar.

Donato put Chicago up 4-3 at 6:28 on a deflection of MacKenzie Entwistle’s shot.

Arvidsson’s game-tying goal was set up after Philipp Kurashev got a delay of game penalty for firing the puck over the glass.