Bedard stays hot with hat trick, Blackhawks defeat Flames

CHICAGO -- Connor Bedard scored his second NHL hat trick for the Chicago Blackhawks, who extended their point streak to six games with a 5-2 victory against the Calgary Flames at United Center on Tuesday.

Bedard, who has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in his past 11 games, had the first hat trick of his career on Oct. 28 against the Ottawa Senators.

It’s been fun,” said Bedard, who wore the “A” as an alternate captain for the first time in his career. “We’re obviously early, 19 games in, but it’s just been a lot of fun. We’re so determined to go out there and win. You know, even today, we give up a goal, obviously get them back into the game end of the second, right at the start of the third they score, that’s something that can deflate a team, but we go back out there, we get another one, then we get another one. We’re just really determined. We have a lot fun together. We love each other and we want to play for each other. That’s shows a lot.”

Oliver Moore had a goal and an assist, and Arvid Soderblom made 19 saves for the Blackhawks (10-5-4), who are 5-0-1 during the point streak.

“You've got to be on every night, it's an everyday league,” Chicago forward Ryan Donato said. “Obviously, we're feeling good and all that stuff is great in the locker room, all the fun things that come with winning, but you can't dwell on the past, right? If we lost tonight, I think the feeling in the locker room would be obviously very much different. Guys are understanding that you have to do it every night.”

Rasmus Andersson had a goal and an assist, and Matt Coronato scored for the Flames (5-13-3), who are 1-4-1 in their past six. Dustin Wolf made 18 saves.

“Pretty bad game by us, honestly,” Andersson said. “First two periods weren’t good enough. We know we played bad, and we still end up with 2-2 in the third. We’ve got to find a way to get at least one point with us, and we didn’t. Sloppy game. Bad game from our side.”

Donato put the Blackhawks up 1-0 at 15:05 of the first period. Louis Crevier’s long-distance shot deflected to Donato, and he scored from the right face-off circle.

Bedard made it 2-0 at 15:11 of the second period after Sam Rinzel lifted the puck down the ice into the offensive zone. Bedard chased after the rolling puck and one-handed it between Wolf’s pads while fending off Flames defenseman Yan Kuznetsov.

Coronato cut the deficit to 2-1 on the power play at 19:32, scoring from the left side of the crease after taking a backdoor pass along the goal line from Nazem Kadri.

“I don’t think we played the way we wanted tonight,” Coronato said. “Slow start. It was nice to see some battle back, but I don’t think we ever got to fully playing the way we want to.”

Andersson tied the game 2-2 at 3:02 of the third period, putting a shot over Soderblom’s glove from the right circle after taking a pass from Mikael Backlund.

“I don’t think it was a very good game before that or after that,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “I think our penalty kill did a good job, power play scored two games in a row. There was a lot to our game that I don’t think was very good tonight.”

Bedard put Chicago back in front 3-2 at 4:57 when he sent a wrist shot from the right circle far side after receiving a cross-ice pass from Ryan Greene.

Moore scored on a 2-on-1 with Frank Nazar at 13:04 to make it 4-2. Bedard then completed the hat trick at 19:19 by scoring into an empty net from the defensive zone for the 5-2 final.

“I think if anyone goes out there for the empty-netter with a chance for a hat trick, obviously you’re not going to force it, but I felt good in that spot to shoot that one,” Bedard said. “Obviously, I turned it over, too, so just wanted to make sure to ice the game. Fortunately, it went in.”

NOTES: Bedard became the fourth player in Blackhawks history to score multiple hat tricks before the age of 21, joining Alex DeBrincat (three), Jeremy Roenick (three) and Bobby Hull (two). … Calgary claimed forward John Beecher off waivers from the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.