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Lars Eller scores first point as a Penguin in season-opening loss to Connor Bedard’s Blackhawks

By Chris Cerullo

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October 11, 2023 2:31 pm

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened their 2023-24 season against the Chicago Blackhawks on national TV in a battle of generational first overall draft picks: 36-year-old Sidney Crosby and 18-year-old Connor Bedard.

The Blackhawks ultimately won the highly-touted game 4-2 as Bedard tallied his milestone first NHL point.

There was another first as well. Former Capitals’ center, Lars Eller, scored his first point with the Penguins on a Bryan Rust goal. Eller signed a two-year deal with Pittsburgh in free agency this past summer.

Eller earned the assist after playing give and go with fellow offseason acquisition Reilly Smith near center ice. The seven-year Capitals center then carried the puck into the zone, fed an open Kris Letang on the right wing, and Letang sent a shot pass to the net which Rust deftly tipped by Petr Mrazek.

Eller also took a goaltender interference penalty in the game.

The first Dane to ever win the Stanley Cup, Eller originally departed DC at last year’s trade deadline when the Capitals sent him to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2025 second-round draft pick. Eller went pointless in seven playoff games for the Avs and then joined Pittsburgh, the Capitals’ mortal enemies, in July.

While Rust’s goal gave the Penguins an early 1-0 lead and Crosby doubled that lead half way through the second period, the Pens would see four unanswered goals go in their net, dropping their Home Opener. Chicago’s first goal to spark the comeback came off the stick of Ryan Donato and earned Bedard his first career NHL point — a secondary assist.

Bedard was positively thrilled to find the scoresheet for the first time.

“It’s a moment you think of all your life,” Bedard told ESPN postgame. “And now it’s already done. That part is kind of sad.”

Agreed, I guess.

Chicago would add goals from Cole Guttman, Jason Dickinson, and Nick Foligno to down Pittsburgh. Mrazek earned second star honors for his 34-save performance.

Screenshot via Penguins

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