Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard comments on his low SOG (Source: Imagn)

Connor Bedard has been performing well for the Chicago Blackhawks this season, despite the team’s struggles. The 19-year-old forward, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, has shown immense potential with 6 goals and 18 assists in 29 games as of mid-December 2024. However, Bedard’s scoring form has been a mixed bag and he has faced challenges in maintaining consistency.

In Thursday’s game against the New York Islanders, Connor Bedard had four shots on goal in the first period alone. But this season, there have been four occasions where he registered no shots, and the Blackhawks have lost three of those games, including two in December. Bedard’s struggles with shot production have prompted Blackhawks assistant coach Derek King to ask him to shoot more often.

Bedard addressed the criticism, offering a brutally honest take on his approach to shooting.

“Yeah, I’m not Brent Burns taking 1Ts up top,” Bedard said per The Athletic. “If I don’t get myself in a spot where I can shoot, I’m not going to shoot. That’s the thing. It’s not ‘shoot the puck all the time.’”

Bedard believes that shooting isn’t always the right decision as he focuses on getting into the right position first.

“It’s ‘get yourself in a spot where you can shoot.’ And I will shoot,” Bedard explained. “I don’t want to have zero shots at the end of any games. But I’m not going to force anything just to have a SOG (shot on goal) at the end of the game. I’m going to try to make plays.”

Despite Connor Bedard’s struggles with shot consistency, he has good hockey IQ, contributing to the Blackhawks’ power play, recording 3 power-play goals and 9 power-play assists. He has averaged 19:29 minutes of ice time per game.

Blackhawks lost 5-4, despite Connor Bedard’s first period lead

The New York Islanders beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Thursday. Interim coach Anders Sorensen noticed the Mental lapses in the close road loss.

“I thought we did some good things, but, again, the mental lapses that we had there in the second and in the third, that’s something we have to clean up,” Sorensen said per NHL.com.

Connor Bedard gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal. The Islanders tied it with Dennis Cholowski’s goal. Simon Holmstrom then gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead. In the third period, Noah Dobson, Bo Horvat and Maxim Tsyplakov scored a goal each and made it 5-1.

The Blackhawks fought back with one goal from TJ Brodie and two goals from Tyler Bertuzzi, making it 5-4, but the Blackhawks couldn’t complete the comeback.