Blackhawks head coach sounds off on referees after missed penalty on Connor Bedard

The Chicago Blackhawks suffered a frustrating loss at the hands of the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night at the United Center. Falling 3-2 and watching the Kraken get three third-period goals, the Blackhawks had a chance on a Connor Bedard breakaway in that period.

Bedard had the breakaway with 4:25 left in the game, getting behind Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren. The attempt was no good as Lindgren’s slash was not called. And the Blackhawks, particularly Bedard were furious.

The young superstar let his feelings be known to referee Justin Kea with some gestures. Kea was not happy and then called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Bedard, sending him to the box.

Connor Bedard took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after arguing there was a missed call on his breakaway attempt pic.twitter.com/hwh4YH7FR3

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The Kraken took advantage as Jaden Schwartz got the game-deciding goal. It’s no question that the call decided the game and following the loss, Jeff Blashill made his frustrations known.

Jeff Blashill lashes out on referee for missed call

Following the game, Blashill defended his young superstar who got the penalty.  He went off on the referring in the game at that key moment.

“It’s a penalty… When you don’t have position on a guy, and you put your stick in there and you hit his glove — yes he got the stick after, but the first contact was on his glove — it’s a penalty,” Blashill said.

“And then I don’t know what was said, but it better have been really, really, really personal to be that sensitive about it. Because you’re deciding games… It better have been really, really personal if you’re not going to have enough thick skin to just keep playing through it.”

Bedard wasn’t shy about talking about the missed penalty, either. He took a different approach though, saying he has to be better controlling his emotions.

“Obviously, in the moment, you think it’s a penalty,” Bedard said Thursday via the Chicago Sun-Times. “But I have to control my emotions in a better way. I put our team in a vulnerable spot there, so [I’ve] just got to be better.”

At this stage of his career, Bedard should be getting rewarded with penalties like that. But it didn’t happen and instead, the Blackhawks took a loss as they head to Buffalo for their next game on Friday.

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