Blackhawks' Connor Bedard Is Likely To Play Tuesday Night Vs Penguins

The Chicago Blackhawks will welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night at the United Center. After a brutal loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, they have a different Metropolitan Division team in town to try to right their wrongs. 

In this Pittsburgh-Chicago matchup, 3 of the era's best players will share the ice: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Patrick Kane. However, the marquee name in the headlines is Connor Bedard, who is set to return from injury. 

Bedard, who was forced to undergo shoulder surgery early in the summer, has been practicing for weeks now. At first, it was light skating and shooting; then it became more hockey-like drills; then he joined the team for practice in a non-contact sweater; and finally, he practiced in a full-contact practice jersey over the weekend. 

On Monday, he practiced (again in a contact sweater) with Roman Kantserov on his left and Patrick Kane on his right. Nobody was coming in and out with him; it was his line all the way through. The same goes for his power play work. 

The lines with Bedard involved appeared as they had during practice on Sunday:

Kantserov-Bedard-Kane

Bertuzzi-Frondell-Teravainen

Smith-Greene-Greenway

Moore-Toninato-Donato

Lardis

Byram-Levshunov

Vlasic-Cole

Kaiser-Rinzel

Korchinski-Del Mastro

On the power play, with Bedard on the first unit, the groups looked like this:

PP1:

Bertuzzi

Bedard-Kantserov-Kane

Byram

PP2:

Moore

Teravainen-Donato-Frondell

Rinzel

With the way the team practiced, it looked like they were working towards Bedard's imminent return. Then, after practice was over, head coach Jeff Blashill said he's trending towards playing on Tuesday night against the Penguins. That is coach's speak, hinting that he will be in the lineup. 

With Bedard drawing in, Nick Lardis appears to be the healthy scratch based on how they ran in practice. Frank Nazar is suspended for one more game, so another name will be coming out when he returns. Expect that to be Dominic Toninato, who will be in the AHL for most of the season when the team is healthy. 

On defense, Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro are the extras again. Blashill is committed to letting his top six figure it out after a lackluster start to the year. 

Bedard joining the top power-play unit allows Patrick Kane to return to his proper spot on the right side. That should open up a lot more room with two forwards out there who think the game one step ahead of everyone else. Now, Bowen Byram will be more likely to do what he does best, and goal scorers like Tyler Bertuzzi and Roman Kantserov are ready to take advantage. 

Nobody, including Connor Bedard or Jeff Blashill, came out and said that he is for sure playing, but it was hinted at in a way that you can assume he is likely playing without any setbacks. Now, the Blackhawks will be properly evaluated with their best player back in.

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