CHICAGO — Connor Bedard scored 71 goals in just 57 games in his final season with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats. He followed that up with 22 goals in 68 games with the Blackhawks. It was good enough to win the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie, but nearly every game with a zero in the personal goal column felt foreign to him, felt like an affront to his very being.

Oliver Moore averaged a goal just about every three games as a sophomore at Minnesota; he’s scored three in 36 games in the NHL. Ryan Greene had 12 goals and 13 goals in 40-game seasons as a sophomore and junior at Boston University; he has four in 41 games with the Blackhawks. Colton Dach was better than a point a game his last two seasons in the WHL; he’s a fourth-liner grinding out a point every four games in the NHL.

Landon Slaggert was one of the very best players on every hockey team he ever played for until he got to the NHL. So was Artyom Levshunov. So was Ryan Donato. So was Sam Lafferty. So was just about every single player who’s ever played in the league.

Learning to score in the NHL typically takes time. Obviously. But learning to handle not scoring in the NHL does, too. Nick Lardis is still working on the first part. But if the second part is gnawing at him, he’s certainly not letting it show. Going from 71 goals in 65 games for the Brantford Bulldogs last season — the first 70-goal scorer in the OHL since John Tavares — to just one in his first seven in the NHL has been an adjustment.

But it turns out you don’t score 71 goals at any level without a little self-belief.

“I knew I wasn’t going to come into pro and score every single night,” Lardis said. “That’s just not how it works for even the best players in the world. Obviously, I know I have it in me. I feel like the confidence will never go away. At the same time, you have to understand it’s the best league in the world. It’s not going to come easy. Especially as a young player. I’m just making sure I’m working hard every single day, doing the little details right, showing up prepared for the games, and having the confidence to do what I can do. It’ll come.”

Especially if Lardis keeps playing the way he did on Tuesday night in a 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. Playing for the first time on a line with cagey veteran Teuvo Teräväinen and fellow rookie Oliver Moore, Lardis was a menace all night. Coming off a career-high three shots in a career-high 16:03 of ice time against Pittsburgh on Sunday, Lardis had five shots on goal (eight attempts) in 15:12 against the Islanders.

In the waning seconds of the second period, he was hounding the puck on a power-play shift, getting one shot off, tracking down the puck behind the net and winning the battle for it, then finding a soft spot on the ice for a one-timer from Moore that beat New York goalie David Rittich between the legs with just 1.7 seconds left to tie the game at 2-2.

“He’s a confident player, confident kid,” Moore said. “You can see it out there. He’s making little plays that go a long way for our line, for the team, and he’s getting more trust, so it’s good.”