Bedard, Zegras get ‘Michigan’ goals before holiday break

ST. LOUIS -- Connor Bedard and Trevor Zegras will each have something to talk about over the holiday break.

Bedard, the Chicago Blackhawks' 18-year-old center and No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, put his skills on full display when he scored a "Michigan"-style goal in a 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

Bedard received the puck behind the Blues net from Philipp Kurashev and scooped it up to his left, scoring a lacrosse-style shot over goalie Jordan Binnington's left shoulder to tie the game 1-1 at 3:49 of the first period.

“When I was pretty young [I scored one], but I’ve got a lot of attempts, so it was good to kind of see one go in,” Bedard told NBC Sports Chicago during the first intermission. “There was just no one there and I just thought it was a good play and I kind of went for it.”

Even more impressive is Bedard did in front of NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, who was in attendance.

"He’s been fun to watch, and he’s been better than we probably anticipated, not only an ambassador on the ice, he’s been tremendous off the ice for an 18-year-old man," Gretzky told Bally Sports Midwest. "I’m happy for him. He’s got the right coach in Luke Richardson, the right organization. But I couldn’t do what he did tonight. That just wasn’t in my repertoire. 'Hullie' [Brett Hull] could do it. I could never do what [Bedard] did tonight. My daughter Emma is with me and she goes, 'Dad, did you ever do that?' I said, 'No, I could never do that.'"

It was Bedard's first lacrosse-style goal in the NHL, and the first of two in the League on the last day of games before the holiday break.

Not long after Bedard’s goal, Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras, who missed the previous 20 games because of a lower-body injury, skated behind the net and scooped the puck up to his left, scoring a lacrosse-style shot over goalie Joey Daccord’s right shoulder at 14:01 of the third period in a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken.

It was the third time Zegras, 22, has scored such a goal; he had one against the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 27, 2022, and another less than three months later, against the Arizona Coyotes on April 1, 2022.

"Kind of just black out for a couple seconds and, the next thing you know, it's in," Zegras said of his goal.

Bedard, meanwhile, leads all NHL rookies in goals (13), assists (17) and points (30) in 33 games.

The Blues and the sellout crowd of 18,096 were stunned in awe, and it shook the team up, albeit momentarily. Anthony Beauvillier scored 23 seconds later at 4:12 to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead.

St. Louis rebounded from a 5-2 deficit in the third period to win 7-5, but it couldn't help but be impressed by Bedard's display.

"It was elite," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "I [hadn’t] seen one live, to be honest. I thought that kind of took the wind out of our sails. We scored early, I thought we were playing OK. I didn't think we were carrying the game. But I thought when that happened, we took a step back from what we were doing. I don’t know if you can defend that.

“It happens so quick, and it was clean. 'Binner,' he didn’t have a chance. I thought we could’ve been quicker to close when he was behind the net. That might’ve stopped that from happening. But that’s a really highly skilled play by a good player. You’ve got to give him credit."

Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson was obviously disappointed about the loss, but like everyone else, he can’t help but be wowed by Bedard’s skill.

"We’ve seen a couple of things like that; it definitely happens quickly,” Richardson said. “He’s got quick hands. I didn’t even realize what happened until it went in. That’s the vision that he has. He can see that. When the puck was probably wobbling a little bit, he gets his blade under it and he can scoop it as he’s moving, so he’s able to do those things. Unfortunately we couldn’t propel that into a win tonight."

NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Arritt contributed to this report