NHL: Upon his return to play, Connor Bedard had an assist, and Sidney Crosby scored twice

Sidney Crosby wasn't going to let Connor Bedard get all the attention Thursday night when he returned to action.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain scored with two goals in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, stopping his team's slide to three defeats.

Before the match, the Hawks announced that their young star would play his first match since January 5th. Bedard was sidelined with a broken jaw after an injury to Brendan Smith of the New Jersey Devils.

However, the game was only 15 seconds old for Crosby to change reflectors and send it toward his team. The Penguins forward skillfully redirected a point shot from Marcus Pettersson to open the scoring.

Just over 10 minutes later, Bedard was the victim of a turnover inside the area. His pass was intercepted on the fly by Drew O'Connor and he put the offense back. He passed the puck to Riley Smith and the latter beat Arvid Söderblom.

Bedard wasn't going to let this game haunt him for long. The Hawks forward made a lofted pass to Filip Kurashev, who had no trouble pulling the strings midway through the half. For Bedard, it was his 19th assist in his 40th game.

But Crosby gave his team a two-goal lead in the third period. He was forgotten at the mouth of the net and was spotted by Rickard Rakell to deliver a devastating blow for the Hawks. Thus, Crosby reached the plateau of 30 goals in one season for the twelfth time since the beginning of his career.

Brian Rust completed the score into an empty net. In front of the Penguins cage, Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves. Soderblom stopped 23 shots.