By Samantha Stephensen
Connor Bedard Home Debut
Connor Bedard, the first-overall selection in the 2023 draft, started his NHL career on a five-game road trip with before finally getting to make his Blackhawks home debut on Saturday night against the defending Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights.
The most hyped prospect to enter the league since Auston Matthews, It didn’t take long to give the Chicago fans what they came for as Bedard’s first career regular-season home goal nearly blew the roof off the United Center.
Connor Bedard scores his first official goal at the United Center in just his second shift. Deafening celebration. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/jtJBgBowhd
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 22, 2023
The goal made Bedard — at 18 years and 96 days — the youngest player in Blackhawks history to score a power-play goal.
He’s also the 11th first-overall draft pick to score in his team’s home opener and the fastest ever to do it (1:30 of the first period.)
“It always feels good to score goals, I think added with the crowd of course, they’re buzzing tonight so it’s a lot of fun for us to play in front of and cool to get one in front of them.”
