Connor Bedard notched a point in his NHL debut and the Chicago Blackhawks scored three times in the third period to rally for a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

The 18-year-old Bedard – the top pick in the 2023 draft - assisted on Ryan Donato’s goal late in the second period to cut Chicago’s deficit to 2-1.

Bedard registered five of the Blackhawks’ 35 shots and dazzled occasionally with his skating.

His arrival in the NHL has been anticipated for years, much like Sidney Crosby’s when the Penguins made him the first overall selection in 2005, all of 13 days after Bedard was born.

Cole Guttman netted the tying goal midway through the third period and Jason Dickinson snapped the tie with 4:33 remaining.

Petr Mrazek gave up goals to Bryan Rust and Crosby but finished with 38 saves against the Penguins, the league’s oldest team.

Golden Knights raise banner, beat Kraken

Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault scored in the first period and Adin Hill made 27 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights began defense of their Stanley Cup title with a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel also tallied for Vegas, which raised its championship banner in a lavish pregame ceremony.

Jared McCann provided Seattle’s lone goal in the second period.

Paul leads Lightning past Predators

Nicholas Paul scored a pair of third-period power-play goals and Jonas Johansson stopped 28 shots to win his Lightning debut as Tampa Bay opened the season with a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators.

Brandon Hagel scored on a penalty shot, Nikita Kucherov added a pair of goals and Brayden Point had three assists for the Lightning.

With five-time All-Star Andrei Vasilevskiy expected to miss another six weeks after back surgery, Johansson has been thrust into a starting role.

He gave up Tommy Novak’s tying goal 8:48 into the third period, but Paul scored just over two minutes later and Kucherov’s empty-net goal closed the scoring.

Ryan O’Reilly and Juuso Parssinen also scored as Nashville lost in Andrew Brunette’s debut as coach.