Bedard, Teravainen help Blackhawks top Sharks in home opener

CHICAGO -- Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists to help the Chicago Blackhawks win their home opener, 4-2 against the San Jose Sharks at United Center on Thursday.

“Big win, especially at home,” Teravainen said. “We got to be great at home, use the fans. Just overall great day being at home. That’s what we got to do.”

Tyler Bertuzzi scored his first goal with Chicago (2-2-1). Petr Mrazek made 20 saves.

“Yeah, five games, it's a very small sample size,” Bedard said. “But I feel like we've had a lot of good moments in every game, and times every game we’re really taking it to the other team, so that's felt good.”

Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves for the Sharks (0-2-2). William Eklund and Mikael Granlund each had two assists for San Jose.

“We didn’t do anything well,” said Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky. “We got off to a slow start. It hasn’t been us. We couldn’t defend in our own end. We couldn’t close quick enough. We couldn’t get the forecheck going. We didn’t do anything well.”

Hall gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 4:20 of the first period with the teams skating 4-on-4. He took a pass on the left side from TJ Brodie, skated in and shot the puck between the pads of Vanecek.

It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5, 2023. He played in only 10 games last season because of a knee injury.

“Yeah, it's awesome,” Bedard said. “He's someone that lived the game. He was obviously hurt from not playing and just seeing the excitement he has getting back, how much time he puts into it every day. Last year he was being positive, being helpful to our whole team, and seeing him come back and look as good as he is. Obviously he got one tonight, it was fun to see.”

Bertuzzi scored on the power play at 19:11 to give Chicago a 2-0 lead when he redirected a feed from Teravainen while in the slot. The 29-year-old forward signed a four-year, $22 million contract ($5.5 million average annual value) with Chicago on July 1.

Nick Foligno made it 3-0 at 43 seconds of the second period with a power-play goal. Standing at the edge of the crease, Foligno tipped in a pass from Teravainen, who fed it from the right face-off circle.

“He just sees,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said of Teravainen. “He sees openings and he knows exactly what the next play is before he gets it on his stick. That’s indicative of the Foligno goal. I don’t know if Nick was almost not ready for it, it came that quick.”

The Sharks made it 3-1 at 18:17 when Tyler Toffoli tapped in a feed from Eklund, who circled to the goal line to the left of the net after the Blackhawks were unable to clear the puck.

Jason Dickinson made it 4-1 Chicago at 2:19 of the second period when he took a feed at the net from Joey Anderson below the goal line.

Fabian Zetterlund’s tip-in of Granlund’s shot at 2:52 brought the Sharks to within 4-2.

“Obviously the start was really slow for us,” Granlund said. “We did a little bit better as the game went on. But at the same time, that’s not enough. We were playing too slow with the puck, skating wise. It’s tough to play when you’re just chasing the game.”

The Blackhawks had seven power plays, including a pair of 5-on-3 situations.

“I just think we spent too much time defending and, as a result, took too many penalties and kind of gave them the momentum that way,” said Sharks defenseman Cody Ceci. “They have a good power play. They got us a couple times. I think we just spent a little bit too much time defending and too much time in the box.”

NOTES: Eklund played after being a game-time decision because of an upper-body injury. He did not practice on Wednesday but took part in the morning skate on Thursday. “I wanted to win a game, to compete with the guys out there and try and win the game,” he said. … The Blackhawks placed defenseman Alec Martinez on injured reserve with a right-groin injury and recalled defenseman Isaak Phillips from Rockford of the American Hockey League … Hall’s goal left him one point shy of 700 in the NHL.