CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 in Chicago to spoil Sidney Crosby's two-goal night and win captain Conor Bedard's season debut. Teuvo Teravainen scored twice, Roman Kantserov added two goals and Tyler Bertuzzi sealed it with an empty-netter with nine seconds left, while Pittsburgh got a team-leading fourth goal from Nick Robertson and a start in net from Sergei Murashov with Andrei Kuzmenko returning to the lineup.
Chicago struck 28 seconds in when Declan Carlile was pressured after a bad bounce and Teuvo Teravainen finished in front to make it 1-0. Pittsburgh answered on Crosby's first goal of the season, created by Bryan Rust's board work that forced a turnover to Erik Karlsson, who fed Crosby on a 2-on-1 for a far-side finish past Spencer Knight to tie it 1-1. Kris Letang then took Pittsburgh's first penalty and Chicago capitalized on the power play when Bedard slipped a touch pass to Kantserov for a 2-1 lead. Shots were 9-7 Chicago after 20 minutes, with the Blackhawks converting their lone power play while Pittsburgh went 0-for-2.
Pittsburgh's power play remained scoreless early in the second, including a carryover chance and another drawn by Robertson that generated several Erik Karlsson attempts wide or blocked. Kantserov made it 3-1 with his second of the night after Carlile left his spot to mark Patrick Kane and Ville Koivunen did not stay with point man Artyom Levshunov, leaving Ben Kindel alone in front as Kantserov fought him off to finish. Pittsburgh cut it to 3-2 when Blake Lizotte's 2-on-1 shot led to a loose puck after Knight tried to cover, and Robertson pounced for the finish. Pittsburgh led 19-15 in shots and 42-22 in attempts after two periods but still trailed by one.
Kaeden Korczak drew Pittsburgh's fourth power play after taking a slash, but the Penguins again failed to convert. Crosby tied it 3-3 on an improvised line with fourth-liners when Connor Dewar's shot produced a rebound that Knight left in front and Crosby corralled to his forehand for his second of the game. Egor Chinakhov's interference penalty gave Chicago a second power play that looked surgical but Patrick Kane could not convert. Teravainen put Chicago ahead for good with 4:18 to play, beating Murashov from the left wall when the goaltender was not square to the angle for a 4-3 lead before Bertuzzi's empty-net goal closed the 5-3 final.
Special teams decided it. Pittsburgh finished 0-for-4 on the night and is now 0-for-16 in its last five games, struggling with faceoffs, zone entries and execution, while Chicago's power play, which had been dreadful entering the night, looked clinical with Bedard back and its point man pushing to the tops of the circles to create back-door chances for Bedard on the left and Kane on the right. Robertson extended his streak of consecutive games drawing a penalty to three and scored his fourth goal despite skating on the fourth line.