Connor Bedard, right, of the Chicago Blackhawks skates against Auston Matthews, left, of the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 16, in Toronto.Claus Andersen/Getty Images
There was no hatty for Matty and no points for Bedard on Monday when Connor’s travelling road show rolled into Scotiabank Arena.
The marquee matchup between No. 1 draft picks and different generational stars was a washout. Tyler Johnson, Corey Perry, MacKenzie Entwistle and Taylor Raddysh each scored for Chicago in a 4-1 victory over the Maple Leafs. John Tavares had Toronto’s goal.
Auston Matthews, who scored three times in each of the Maple Leafs’ first two games, was shut out in his bid to become the first player in the NHL to have hat tricks in three straight games. Connor Bedard failed in his attempt to become the eighth in league history to notch points in his first four games by a player 18 and younger.
The much-anticipated showdown never really materialized. Fourteen scouts were on hand and the house was packed. Just about everybody was in the building on Bay Street with the exception of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Matthews had nine shots and went 13-10 in faceoffs. Bedard had four shots, two hits and went 4-9 in the faceoff circle.
Arvid Soderblom, who had won only two of 19 previous starts in the NHL, picked up the win in the Blackhawks net. He stopped 36 of 37 shots. Joseph Woll ended up on the losing end as Ilya Samsonov took the night off. Woll had 26 saves.
Kelly: Connor Bedard has an electric presence on the ice, and a clichéd poise off of it
The triumph improved Chicago’s record to 2-2. The Blackhawks are 9-4-1 in their last 14 visits to Toronto. The Maple Leafs, whose next game is Thursday in Sunrise against Florida, are 2-1. The Panthers eliminated them in five games from the second round of the 2023 playoffs.
Both Matthews and Bedard tossed bouquets at one another beforehand.
“He is someone who kind of pioneered a certain shot and he has six goals in two games so he is doing something right,” said Bedard, who was vying to become the first Chicago player to have four points in the first four games of a season since Jonathan Toews in 2007. “Ever since he came into the league he is someone I loved to watch and looked up to.
“The shot is what everyone knows about but how he is all around the ice is pretty special. I think that gets overlooked because he has so many goals and how he is in the offensive zone.
“He is an unreal player and one of the best in the league so I am excited to go against him.”
In his first swing through the NHL, the 18-year-old centre will have played five games on the road over a distance of 16,000 kilometres before he makes his debut at home on Saturday. He has caught everyone’s attention with his play, including Matthews.
“I don’t know him personally but his skill set speaks for itself,” Matthews said on Sunday. “He shoots the puck as good as anybody I have ever seen. And I think the way he has handled himself with all the hype and the circus around him shows that he has a very good head on his shoulders.”
Matthews is the first Maple Leaf to have hat tricks in back-to-back games since Wendel Clark in 1994. He is also the first player to score three times in each of the first two games of the season since Alex Ovechkin in 2017 and only the fifth in 106 years.
The most exciting moment of a very dull first period was a last-minute fight between Chicago’s Connor Murphy and Toronto’s Noah Gregor. Carlton the Bear fired more souvenirs into the stands with his T-shirt bazooka than the teams had shots on net combined.
Entwistle scored three minutes into the second period to break a scoreless tie, right after Woll made a nice save on Andreas Athanasiou. Nylander rushed the net skating around people before he found Tavares for his first goal of the campaign with 14:45 before intermission. The captain had five assists in the first two games.
The Maple Leafs continue to audition new goal songs after selections by Kid Cudi in their first two contests at home. With Original Six teams mixing it up, this time they went with classic rock. The club retired Hall and Oates’ You Make My Dreams (Come True) after five years. On Monday, Van Halen’s Panama was the choice.
Toronto had shown off its firepower by scoring 13 times in its first two games. On Monday, especially in the last four minutes, it was stymied by Soderblom time and again.
After a scoreless first, the Blackhawks went ahead three minutes into the second period when Entwistle beat Woll, right after he executed a nice save on Andreas Athanasiou.
Tavares then tied it at 1-1 with 14:45 to go in the period off a lovely pass from William Nylander after he had rushed hard to the net.
Corey Perry, a thorn in everyone’s side but the club he plays for, broke the tie on a one-on-one with 5:14 left before the second intermission. The 38-year-old got behind the defence and received a long pass from Alex Vlasic.
Johnson then added a power-play goal with 2 minutes 55 seconds before the teams went to their respective dressing rooms with Chicago up 3-1.
Both clubs had goals erased late in the game by offsides calls and the Maple Leafs had a 6 on 4 advantage as the finals seconds ticked off the clock.
“I think we were really sloppy with the puck in the first period and got beat on the transition in the second,” Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach, said. “We weren’t able to take control of the game and let the opponent hang around.
“We have seen that movie before.”