The top two picks in the 2023 NHL Draft will face off for the first time tonight as the Ducks visit the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center in the finale of a two-game road trip.
PUCK DROP: 5:30 P.M. PT | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER
Selected with the first and second overall picks this past summer, Chicago's Connor Bedard and Anaheim's Leo Carlsson will both center their club's top line tonight, each just two months into their inaugural NHL campaign.
Bedard, long heralded as one of the game's premier prospects after a dominant junior hockey career, leads all NHL first-year players in points and goals.
Carlsson, who shot up draft boards last season after excelling Sweden's top professional league at just 17 years old, is tied for second among NHL rookies in goals and sixth in points.
"I'm really interested, from a spectator perspective, to watch those two go head-to-head," head coach Greg Cronin said. "I've only seen Bedard on video. Obviously, his scoring ability is impressive. I think his balance on his skates is impressive for an 18-year-old.
"Leo, being a centerman and having to cover 200 feet of ice in all three zones, is kind of a different player in terms of his responsibilities with and without the puck. It'll be fun to watch."
"He's a great player, so it'll be a fun game," Carlsson said. "He's a dynamic offensive player, a great shot and playmaking ability...He's a great talent and dangerous every time he gets the puck."
Carlsson and the Ducks will hope to close their brief road trip with a victory in the Windy City after falling 3-2 to the Avalanche in hard-fought game Tuesday night. Carlsson and Sam Carrick scored in the third period that night, but the Ducks could not find the equalizing goal late to force overtime.
“We keep doing this, we wait to get behind," Cronin said of the Ducks again finding themselves behind early. "I don't know what's going on psychologically, but it's too late. We keep doing it and everybody praises us for coming back, but to me it's just kind of silly hockey, right? Why isn't that there in the beginning of the game?
“You got a [Colorado] team that played four games in six nights, started out in Arizona and basically went from Orange County to L.A. to home, get in late, and we play them. We should have put fatigue on them earlier, and we didn't. Give them credit. They won puck battles, and they wanted it more, particularly in the second period."
The loss dropped Anaheim to 10-15-0 on the season and 5-6-0 away from home ice.
“Every game we get down 1-0, 2-0, and then we start playing hockey,” Cronin said. “So, it's really frustrating because when we play hard like that, we're a fun team to watch and we're a tough team to beat, but when we pick and choose our way through a game, it's not going to translate well after 60 minutes.”
The Ducks will face a Blackhawks team in a similar rebuilding process, currently last in the Central Division with a 7-16-1 record (15 points). Chicago enters play tonight on a four-game losing skid, but did not earn a standings point in a shootout defeat to Nashville on Tuesday.
“Good spots and bad spots, right?” veteran Chicago winger Nick Foligno told media postgame. “You saw when we had success what we were doing - we’re playing fast, we’re playing north, we were quick with our decisions and moving the puck. Teams can’t react. We know how it feels when a team does it to us.
“So, when we do it, it’s there. We just don’t sustain it enough. Or we have these little breakdowns that cost us, right? It’s frustrating because we have to clean that up.”
The Ducks and Hawks will play a three-game season series, with the second and third matchups each slated for March.
