“I mean, most things are kind of instinct, but I just saw a lane, and I’m in the middle of the ice, so I thought I’d shoot the puck and try to hit the spot,” Connor Bedard said after his overtime goal helped the Blackhawks beat the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday evening. “And fortunately, it went.”

That easy. Right?

Connor Bedard’s getting comfortable, and that’s bad news for the rest of the NHL

At 18 years and 163 days old, Bedard became the third-youngest player in NHL history to log his first overtime game-winning goal. Only Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal accomplished the feat at a younger age.

Crosby is arguably the greatest hockey player this side of the millennium. Staal has 656 career regular-season points. That’s pretty good company.

Here are some more “good company” stats for Bedard and the Blackhawks:

Patrick Kane scored 21 goals in 82 games for the Blackhawks in his rookie season. Bedard has 15 goals in his first 34 games.

Bedard’s splits are even more encouraging for the Blackhawks, which have him logging five of his 15 goals and nine of his 17 assists in December. Bedard has 14 points this month, 43.7% of his total points this season.

When you think of prolific goal scorers in the NHL, perhaps Alex Ovechkin is the only player who can consistently score most of them from one place on the ice. Bedard’s shot placement was evident from day one in the NHL, but it came in flashes while he worked to become comfortable uncorking it from different areas of the ice.

If you ask Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson, that’s precisely what’s behind his December surge:

“(His shots are) going to get even worse for the goalies to read him because he starts to score goals like rebound goals in the crease and then the shot like tonight in overtime and then obviously the lacrosse-style goal the other night, when he starts to score goals from all different areas, it’s hard for goalies to get set for him because you never know where it’s going to come from.”

Bedard’s overtime winner last night came in between a trio of Jets skaters, followed by Bedard using the Vince Carter “it’s over” celebration as the United Center crowd exploded. Bedard knew it. As I said at the top. It’s that easy for him. That’s a scary fact for the rest of the NHL.

The Winnipeg Jets did just about everything better than the Blackhawks last night. The only thing they didn’t have on their side was 98 in red. That was the difference for Chicago, an advantage that will only become greater as Bedard settles in.

Tab has more on Bedard’s overtime winner in last night’s write-up:

Best of the rest at Bleacher Nation

Chicago Bears

• Devin Hester is a Hall of Fame finalist (Again)

• The Broncos are benching Russell Wilson (and expected to cut him in March). What does that mean for the QB market this offseason, and how does it impact the Bears?

• Justin Fields speaks on his future in Chicago, the Falcons, focus, and more.

Chicago Blackhawks

• What do the Blackhawks’ odds of picking first in 2024 look like after the Christmas break for the NHL? (Hint: pretty good!)

• Tab has a Blackhawks-centric World Juniors check-in.

Chicago Bulls

• After a 24-point, 25-rebound night on Tuesday, Andre Drummond is reminding the NBA of just how good he can be.

• This is good because Nikola Vecevic could miss the next four games for the Bulls.

Chicago Cubs

• Hayden Wesneski and Ben Brown Among Cubs Most Likely Trade Pieces?

• If you’re unhappy about the Cubs offseason to date, remember that it’s December 28 and can get better. However, that doesn’t mean that it feels any better right now.

• How many teams paid into the MLB luxury tax this season?

Matt Eberflus sounds as frustrated with Luke Getsy as we are, but why did it take this long?

As Luis wrote on Wednesday, Matt Ebeflus sounds frustrated with his offensive coordinator. His deflection of a question regarding Getsy’s job security included some admission of frustration with the results (and, more importantly) and process of Getsy’s offense this season.

It comes down to execution, and the Bears haven’t been able to do that. Eberflus is correct, but it’s taken him two seasons to come to this conclusion finally. It is one of the tallies against him in the pros and cons list regarding whether Eberflus deserves to see another season in Chicago.

Ebeflus’ awareness seems as reliable as Getsy’s post-script play-calling awareness.

We’ve been saying for two years that Getsy’s inability to call plays effectively in the game-flow portion of the game has been a good enough reason to move on from him.

Getsy calls plays he believes in, even when they don’t match his team’s skillset and, even worse, when the opposing defense has answers for them.

It shouldn’t have taken Matt Ebeflus two seasons to realize this, so, for me, his admission of frustration today doesn’t do much more than reaffirm my belief that he’s not fit to be the Bears head coach beyond this season. Yes, the offense falls on Luke Getsy. But the team's overall success falls on Eberflus, and not recognizing or removing Getsy as the OC is as big of an indictment on Flus as the offensive failures are on Getsy.

More on Matt Eberflus’ comments regarding his frustration with the Chicago Bears offense:

What’s on deck?

The Bulls take on the Pacers at 7:00 CT tonight at the United Center. They’re the only Chicago team in action tonight.

Get a preview of the matchup in Matt’s Bulls weekly preview: