CHICAGO -- As soon as the puck slid inside the Anaheim Ducks' net, ensuring the Chicagco Blackhawks' victory, Connor Bedard turned to the Ducks' bench and began giving it to them on Sunday.
Bedard would later play coy when asked what happened late in the game, but it was clear the Ducks had pushed his buttons and he was enjoying every second of being able to run his mouth after the Blackhawks rallied from a three-goal, first-period deficit and were about to win 5-3, with Bedard producing two goals and two assists.
From the production to the swagger, Bedard had to give Ducks coach Joel Quenneville flashbacks of coaching Patrick Kane with the Blackhawks. For current Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill, he welcomed that fire from the 20-year-old.
"Yeah, to be honest with you," Blashill said. "I just don't know any great players who aren't hyper-competitive ... They want to win their shifts. They want to win the game. They want to win at everything they do. He's certainly got that trait."
It was one of Bedard's good friends, Ducks center Mason McTavish, who sparked that next-level compete and trash-talking out of Bedard. They had gone at it during the game. Even after the final whistle, McTavish looked to get a piece of Bedard and had to be broken up.
"We're pretty close," Bedard said. "But that's who he is. I think he's someone that always wants to compete. I was roommates with him and was teammates with him for a couple of years, and everything we do, he's trying to make it a competition. He's such a great player, such a good competitor. He's a fun guy to play against. Fun to go at it with him. I'll probably go say hi to him right now. But it's fun to play guys like that."
How Bedard is able to respond when challenged like that has changed this season. He showed plenty of signs of competitiveness in his first two years in the league, but he was limited in his response. He just couldn't take over games like he had in junior, which led to more frustration.
But now he's able to elevate his play, as he did Sunday with his third four-point game of the season. He had a secondary assist on the Blackhawks' first goal, setting up Frank Nazar for a slot shot on the power play, which was scored on by a redirection by Tyler Bertuzzi. Bedard fed Ryan Greene on a two-on-one for the team's second goal. Bedard scored the fourth goal when he deked Ducks goalie Ville Husso at the net, and then the fifth, an empty-netter to seal it.
Bedard thought that competitive edge had brought the best out of him.
"Every game you have to find it and try to bring that out," he said. "There's no more motivation for one game than another, but it's fun when we have a comeback like that and emotions are running high."
The four points moved Bedard into a tie with Macklin Celebrini for second place in the league with 37 points. Bedard is tied for fourth with 16 goals and tied for seventh with 21 assists.
As good as the Blackhawks' finish was, their start was just as bad. They allowed the first goal 17 seconds in and the second 30 seconds later. The Ducks went ahead 3-0 at 10:25 of the period.
While Blashill wasn't really bothered by how the Blackhawks had allowed the goals, he did notice the impact of the third goal.
"Once we kind of got down, I thought we probably spent a little period of time shell-shocked where they were faster than us, they were kind of stripping us of pucks," Blashill said. "But I thought we did a fairly good job at least on the bench of avoiding frustration and just kind of staying with it."
Considering the Blackhawks came into the game carrying a five-game losing streak, it wouldn't have been surprising if they crumbled. But they didn't. Scoring a power-play goal late in the first period gave them some hope and they built on that.
"I thought our guys did a pretty good job of not trying to make it up in one shift," Blashill said. "You got to try to stay with it. You just got to keep start playing good hockey. At that point, there's tons of time left. Obviously a big goal on the power play at the end of the first. Those are big things. You got to fight to try to score the next goal. And we did that and we did that and we did that."
The Blackhawks outscoring the Ducks 2-0 in the second period and tying the game was significant, too. The second period has often been where the Blackhawks have had their most issues this season. They had been outscored 29-19 in second periods before Sunday.
The Ducks and Blackhawks had some good battles when Quenneville was in Chicago. Could the Ducks and Quenneville become a rival for these Blackhawks?
"We have a whole bunch of good young players, and they have a whole bunch of good young players. ... They're obviously ahead of it right now in terms of standings, but I think that's a team that, if we want to climb the mountain in the Western Conference, that's a team we're going to have to battle them for, for sure," Blashill said. "Zero doubt about it. Both teams have done a really good job scouting; both teams have drafted a lot of good players. It's going to be something that not just next Sunday will be a good rivalry game but down the road."
Quenneville offered his analysis of the Blackhawks after the game.
"They're quick," he said. "They can turn pucks over. If you make them defend, they're ordinary. You give them a lot of traction in the neutral zone and free odd-man breaks, all of a sudden they make you pay."
The Blackhawks were hopeful their early-season crowds wouldn't be predictive of what was to come this season, but they weren't exactly positive. They thought they would know a lot more after coming home from a six-game road trip in early November. Eight of their next nine games would be at the United Center.
With those eight games now behind them, worries have been eased. After averaging 16,806 fans in their six home games before that road trip, the Blackhawks averaged 19,060 fans over their last eight games, including a crowd of 19,912 on Sunday. Also notable: the Blackhawks had drawn fewer than 17,000 in four of their first six games, something that occurred only five times last season, and they have since consistently had crowds higher than that bar.
For the season, the Blackhawks have worked themselves up near the top of the league again. They were 22nd after the first six games and are now just outside the top 10 with an average of 18,094. They averaged 18,585 last season.