The Calgary Flames have gotten off to a hot start to the NHL season and sit atop the Pacific Division with a perfect record through their first four games. After defeating the Chicaco Blackhawks 3-1, the Flames goalie Dustin Wolf made something clear on facing the Hawks young superstar Connor Bedard.
Calgary is eager for postseason success. The team has failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for consecutive years and has not reached the Conference Finals since the 2003-04 season, when they fell to Tampa Bay in the Final. The franchise has been in decline since trading away Matthew Tkachuk, replacing him with Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. However, there are winds of change being felt in Alberta this year.
The strong start to this season, though it’s extremely early to tell, may be a sign of what’s to come for the Flames. On Tuesday night, they took down Chicago and the team’s goalie Dustin Wolf couldn’t hide his excitement after a great performance against standout Bedard.
“I think there’s extra motivation when you see a guy like Bedard over there who’s the next big thing,” Wolf said, per Sportsnet. “It’s rewarding to go out there and shut him down. The objective is to go out there and stop as many shots as you can. It doesn’t matter who is shooting them. But it’s certainly pretty cool when you can put a zero up for that guy. You know he’s going to score a heck of a lot of goals in this league.”
Wolf stopped 31 of 32 shots, with seven of those saves coming against Connor Bedard. Although he is only in his sophomore NHL season, the Blackhawks forward is already a force to be reckoned with in the league. The Calder Trophy winner has confirmed that the buzz around him is deserved, and he has transitioned to the highest level with no signs of regression.
Bedard sets himself and Blackhawks to high-standard
The Chicago Blackhawks organization is currently in the early stages of a rebuild. Following their success in the 2010s, the Hawks have closed down the curtain on those glory days and are now looking to start from scratch after years of lingering in No Man’s Land.
Chicago is confident Bedard will be the franchise’s cornerstone and fans in Windy City are thrilled to have him in for the long ride. However, the talented 19-year old is not settling for mediocrity and is already a leader in a team filled with veterans.
“In the end, it’s about how many games you win, and only getting one is not great,” Connor Bedard said. “You can take positives from what we did. We had a chance in every game, which is great, but in the end it doesn’t really matter. It’s about the two points.”
Through the first four games of the season, Bedard has tallied one goal, four assissts (leads the team), and +/- 2. During his rookie year, Bedard finished with 61 points (22 goals and 39 assists) through 68 games.