Connor Bedard picked up an assist in his NHL debut as the Chicago Blackhawks rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 at PPG Paints Arena.

The top overall pick in the most recent NHL Draft, Bedard led Chicago with five shots on goal in 21:29 of ice time and recorded a secondary assist on Ryan Donato's second-period goal.

"I think I'm always confident in myself", he said. "There's going to be tough games. It's obviously the best players in the world, best league in the world. I think, for me, it's just trying to get better every shift, every game."

Jason Dickinson broke a 2-2 tie in the third period after Cole Guttman tied it earlier in the period. Nick Foligno had a goal and assist, Corey Perry picked up two assists and Petr Mrazek made 38 saves.

Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust had Pittsburgh's goals while Tristan Jarry made 32 saves.

"I'd like to believe we're a better team than what we showed tonight", said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. "It was a loose game. It was a high-event game on both sides. That's not the type of game that's conducive to winning."

Erik Karlsson had two shots on goal in his first game for Pittsburgh since being acquired in a three-team trade on August 6th.

"The journey has just begun", he said. "It's unfortunate we couldn't win today when I felt this was a winnable game. ... We had energy out there. Now we just have to find a way to utilize that energy a little bit better at times."

Bedard picks up assist in successful NHL debut

The Penguins struck first a little more than seven minutes into the game when Rust deflected a shot from Kris Letang to the right of the net.

After initially being disallowed, a video review determined the puck ricocheted out after it had hit the inside of the net.

Crosby doubled the lead with 8:04 left in the second period. Jake Guentzel passed through the slot that set up Crosby for a wrister that was confirmed on video review after Chicago had challenged for offsides.

Donato cut the Pittsburgh lead to 2-1 after Bedard passed to Alex Vlasic, his wrister was stopped by Jarry but Donato was on hand to put the rebound home.

"I was the least important guy on the goal, but obviously feels nice to get one there", Bedard said.

Guttman tied the game with a wrist shot from inside the right circle with 9:55 to play in regulation.

Dickinson showed excellent hustle to dive at a pass from Perry for a shot that gave the Blackhawks their first lead of the night and Foligno tacked on an empty-net goal with 1:27 to go.

"We worked the whole game", said Chicago coach Luke Richardson. "I thought we had great scoring chances in all three periods. ... We got some key execution in the third period, especially. I thought we played excellent after that. We played simple, fast."

Crosby isn't panicking as the Penguins prepare for their first road game of the season Friday night in Washington.

"It's Game 1, so you have to learn", he said. "It's better when you can learn when you've won. ... It's just who can get to their game a little bit better. Obviously, they were able to get a couple there in the third."