Teammates Stick Up For Connor Bedard After Dirty Hit

Late in the second period of this afternoon's game between the Florida Panthers and the Chicago Blackhawks Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov boarded Connor Bedard on a play that could have seriously injured the young phenom.

Veteran winger Nick Foligno took exception to the hit and stood up for the future of the Blackhawks.

Foligno wound up receiving two penalties for his actions, a hooking call and a roughing call. The initial hit surely was suspect given how Kulikov saw Bedard's numbers but typically the refs only catch the retaliation.

While Bedard did not look the best on that play, he has been phenomenal this afternoon. He currently has two goals putting his season total up to nine thus far.

His first goal was a beauty that saw him strip a Panther of the puck and bury it from an impossible angle.

His second goal was arguably even more impressive with him shooting the puck mid-air and going top shelf.

He currently has eight goals in his past eight games and is looking even better with every passing game.