Connor Bedard fails to rescue Blackhawks in 4-1 defeat to New York Rangers as Chicago's rookie sensation plays at Madison Square Garden for the first time

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New York City has been home to graceful and nimble performers seemingly since the town was founded. But there may not have ever been someone who could move as gracefully or nimbly as Connor Bedard.

Making his first appearance at Madison Square Garden as an NHL player, Bedard and his Chicago Blackhawks took on the New York Rangers in a battle between the league's best rookie and the league's best team.

But the lights of Broadway shone too bright for this year's first-overall pick, who wasn't able to impact the game - ending in a 4-1 defeat for the Blackhawks.

Bedard finished the night with the most minutes of Chicago's offensive skaters, but also owned a -2 rating as a crucial giveaway led to New York's opening goal.

First-star Aretmi Panarin walked away with a goal and an assist, second-star Vincent Trocheck got an assist hat trick, and third-star Jacob Trouba got a game-sealing goal at the start of the third period. 

Connor Bedard's Broadway debut did not go as planned, falling to the New York Rangers 4-1

Bedard made an error when he was hit by Vincent Trocheck (16) and lost the puck

That led to a goal up ice beautifully buried by the Rangers' leading scorer - Artemi Panarin (10)

Nearly four straight minutes of play opened up the night without a whistle - allowing Bedard, whose line didn't start the night, a chance to get his first ice touches on the fly.

From puck drop the Rangers appeared to be in control, putting up five shots-on-net before Chicago managed its first at the 9:37 mark.

New York’s efficient and snappy puck movement meant a lot of offensive zone time and plenty of completed passes - but no goals came of it.

By the time Bedard got onto the ice after the first TV time out, he had only managed 2:48 of ice time inside of 11:00.

In fact, it was Bedard’s first touch of the ice after that timeout which led to the first goal for the Rangers. The first-overall pick couldn’t withstand a hit from Vincent Trocheck, turning the puck over.

Up the ice went the Rangers and a cross-ice pass from Alexis Lafreniere found New York's top scorer: Artemi Panarin. The Russian buried it one-time for his 24th goal of the season to go up 1-0 at the 13:00 mark.

Chicago prodded and poked trying to find an answer - with Bedard coming incredibly close to burying a shot on the doorstep of Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin. 

Later the two became tangled as Bedard’s shot went into the goalie’s pads and referees blew for a stoppage as the skater was tangled in his equipment.

With the seconds ticking down on the first period, Bedard perfectly executed a stick lift on K’Andre Miller then raced up ice in a two-on-one. His pass found teammate Ryan Donato, but his linemate’s shot didn’t find the back of the net and the Blackhawks went into the locker room at the first intermission searching for a goal.

A jumble of bodies resulted in Chris Kreider (20) deflecting the puck in the net off his skate

A little over four-and-a-half minutes into the second period, the Blackhawks went on their first man advantage of the night when Rangers defenseman Adam Fox got sent to the box for interference. The blueliner felt bothered by Chicago’s Boris Katchouk and pulled him to the ground by his head.

But just over a minute into that power play, Chicago’s Kevin Korchinski committed an interference penalty of his own - giving the crowd some four-on-four action.

That four-on-four turned into a Rangers power play and their second goal of the night - which came from chaos in front of net. On the power play, Trocheck’s shot from a feed off Mika Zibanejad went off the cross bar. Behind the play came New York’s Chris Kreider who pushed the puck with his right skate into the net as he was coming to a stop. 

Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek was irate as he lifted his arms, wheeling around to officials telling them that Kreider kicked the puck and telling them to go to the monitor. After a lengthy review, referee Corey Syvret announced there was ‘no distinct kicking motion’ and the Rangers fans cheered for the 2-0 lead.

The Rangers stayed on the front foot down the stretch in the second period, but couldn’t produce. An errant pass from Trocheck hit Panarin in the face, forcing him to head to the bench to receive medical treatment.

A feed behind the net to Brennan Ohtmann, who was making his NHL debut after getting called up from the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York’s AHL affiliate), was met by the pads of Mrazek denying him what would have been a special first NHL goal.

An irate Petr Mrazek appealed to the officials to check the replay if it got kicked in

A lengthy review followed and Kreider (20) was awarded the goal, his 20th of the season

Chicago's lone goal came from Colin Blackwell (43) - who bagged his first of the season

Chicago eventually managed to finally get on the board with under three minutes remaining in the second. A long feed from behind their own net found Katchouk, who passed it to an open Colin Blackwell. Blackwell put it on his backhand and past Shesterkin for his first goal of the season and making it 2-1.

Going into the locker room, the crowd looking on social media found out that there were two All-Stars in our midst as the NHL released the first batch of names for the big weekend in late January: Bedard for Chicago and Shesterkin for New York.

The Blackhawks hoped that with only one goal separating them from a massive victory at Madison Square Garden, they could come out with renewed energy and take the game back.

Instead, Rangers captain Jacob Trouba wristed a knucklepuck over Mrazek’s shoulder about a minute and a half into the third period to make it a 3-1 game.

Just over a minute later, New York piled it on thanks to a low shot from Jimmy Vesey off a feed from Will Cuylle which went under the pads of Mrazek and into the net. 4-1 New York.

Chicago, recognizing they wouldn’t be able to tack on a victory, tried extracting their pound of flesh through aggression. 

Defender Jarred Tinordi exchanged blows with veteran Blake Wheeler and ended up sending the Rangers veteran to the ice with a flurry of vicious right hands.

New York tacked on two goals early in the third from Jacob Trouba (L) and Jimmy Vesey (R)

The final moment of excitement came when Chicago's Jarred Tinordi fought Blake Wheeler (17)

Bedard skated off with over 18:00 of ice time, but having been thoroughly outmanned

As the clock ticked down, Bedard’s attempts to bag a goal were not successful. He had his pocket picked by defenseman Braden Schneider, was later stonewalled by Shesterkin, and couldn’t find his teammates for any points as he skated to the bench for the final time of the night.

'I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part,' Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said when asked how he rated his team's performance in stopping Bedard.

'There's skill... its movement its shiftiness, it's skill its ability to pass or shoot so i thought we did a pretty good job with that.'

Bedard's talent is not to be denied. His movement on the ice, abilities both with and without the puck, and his vision for developments is evident.

But success will be hard to come by in the short-term as the Blackhawks continue their re-build from the depths of the NHL standings.