Bedard scores 1st NHL goal in Blackhawks loss to Bruins

BOSTON -- Connor Bedard scored his first career goal in his second NHL game for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Wednesday.

“It was exciting. I mean, it’s a big relief, too,” said Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. “It’s like, you want to get one really bad, quick and kind of get that out of the way, but it was a really cool moment. Cool building to do it in, and family was here and everything. So yeah, it felt good for sure.”

David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins, who won the opener of their 100th season. Trent Frederic also scored, and Linus Ullmark made 20 saves.

“I didn’t think we grew our game, but it’s the first game of the year,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “I didn’t think we played fast enough, consistently enough. … There’s a lot of things to work on, you expect that in Game 1. We got the result. We did a lot of good things.”

Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves, and Taylor Hall had an assist before exiting with an upper-body injury in the second period for Chicago (1-1-0). Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said Hall is week to week.

“We didn't have much in the first two periods other than [Bedard’s] goal,” Richardson said. “We were a little bit sloppy, and the game was choppy today. Even the second period till the end, I think the scoring chances were 3-2. Not much going on offensively, both sides.”

Bedard gave Chicago a 1-0 lead 5:37 into the first period. He dropped the puck to Ryan Donato just inside the blue line before receiving a return pass in the right circle, where he put a sharp-angle shot on Ullmark. The Bruins goalie saved that one, but Bedard collected the rebound, skated around the net, and tucked a wraparound just inside the left post.

Bedard (18 years, 86 days) is the third-youngest player in Blackhawks history to score his first NHL goal, behind Grant Mulvey (18 years, 32 days on Oct. 19, 1974) and Eddie Olczyk (18 years, 56 days on Oct. 11, 1984).

Frederic tied it 1-1 when he tipped a shot from Brandon Carlo at 11:22 of the first. Matthew Poitras, who was making his NHL debut, had the secondary assist on the play.

“[Carlo’s] always shooting for tips, and I think I tipped a couple of his last year,” Frederic said. “They don’t all go in, but he’s definitely good at shooting. … It was a good play by him.”

Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 13:09 of the second period. Milan Lucic sent a backhand feed to Pastrnak in the left face-off circle, and his shot went under Soderblom’s glove.

Lucic signed with Boston on July 1 after playing his first eight NHL seasons with the Bruins from 2007-15. His last season coincided with Pastrnak’s rookie season, when the two often played on the same line.

“We had a couple of shifts there together, and we’re able to connect on the goal there,” Lucic said. “It’s great to get the win, fun to contribute and start the season off with a big one.”

Pastrnak scored an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining in the third period for the 3-1 final.

“You just have to finish it,” Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno said. “That’s where our group is going to learn and try to get better from. We played that team hard. That’s a good team over there, too. It’s a 2-1 game, empty-netter, but we had our chances to tie it up as well.”

NOTES: Bruins forwards John Beecher also made his NHL debut. ... With his assist, Poitras (19 years, 215 days) became the ninth-youngest player in Bruins history to get a point in his NHL debut. Bobby Orr (18 years, 213 days) was the youngest. … Hall and Foligno played their first game against the Bruins since they were traded to the Blackhawks on June 26.