For the first time, hopefully the first of many, we had the Clash of the Connors on display last night.
Connor McDavid is the best player in the world and has been for some time now, and last night, his Edmonton Oilers faced the Chicago Blackhawks, with the newest NHL superstar, Connor Bedard, leading the line.
Bedard was the No. 1 pick in the summer’s NHL Entry Draft, and his start to his career has been sensational.
Bedard plays on one of the worst teams in the league, but he’s already put up quite the highlight reel with great goals, assists, and dekes.
Fans couldn’t wait to see the two Connors come up against each other for the first time.
And neither of them left fans disappointed.
The younger of the two Connors got the first word as the Blackhawks’ young phenom scored an incredible goal just 3:21 into the game.
Bedard took care of the puck after a great pass from Alex Classic, and he unleashed one of the quickest releases we’ve seen to beat Skinner glove-side to the top corner.
The goal quickly went viral on social media, with everyone stunned over the quality of his shot and the speed of his release. Even his opposing goalie was impressed.
“He made a really nice move, a very quick release,” said Stuart Skinner. “He placed it really well, too. It’s pretty hard to move it that fast and still pick a corner.”
But after a slow start to the season, Connor McDavid has returned to looking like his former self. He extended his point streak to 10 games with two primary assists, but he could’ve had more.
McDavid is once again, undoubtedly, the best player in the world: he won Chapter One of the Clash of Connors.
But Bedard still made fans gasp with his beautiful 1-0 goal, and although the Blackhawks have lost seven consecutive road games, Bedard extended his road point streak to double digits.
With the 10-game streak, he now only has seven players ahead of him in the all-time longest road point streaks for rookies in the NHL.