TAMPA, Fla. — Connor Bedard scored from a seemingly impossible angle, Arvid Soderblom stopped 34 shots and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Landon Slaggert, Ryan Donato and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Chicago, which won for just the third time in 18 games this season when trailing after the first period.
“Obviously, it was a big game for them there. It’s a pretty tight race for the playoffs,” Bedard said on his postgame interview on the Chicago Sports Network, referring to the Lightning. “They were playing hard, and we were playing hard. We have a lot of pride in ourselves. But that makes it fun, though.”
The 19-year-old Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, sparked the Blackhawks on a power play midway through the second. He drifted to near the bottom of the right circle before firing a shot through a tiny window that got past goaltender Jonas Johansson and hit the left post for his 14th goal of the season.
“I saw enough room for puck to go in,” Bedard said of the angle he took on the goal. “It was late in the power play, and just thought I’d give it a go. I’ve tried that shot a million times and I finally put one in.”
Johansson finished with 16 saves. Brayden Point scored early in the first period for Tampa Bay, which has lost four of five.
Slaggert put the Blackhawks ahead late in the second and Donato scored midway through the third. Teravainen added an empty-netter and Soderblom made it all hold up.
“He’s been unbelievable, every game,” Bedard said of his goaltender. “We have so much confidence in him. But I thought our group played well. … To be able to come in here and get a win? It’s huge.”
With the win, Chicago snapped a seven-game skid on the road (0-6-1), with their last victory away from home being Dec. 9 at the New York Rangers.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy missed the game with an illness, and 27-year-old emergency backup Kyle Konin dressed for his fourth career NHL game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.