Connor Bedard's Chicago Blackhawks may not have triumphed in his highly-anticipated return to the lineup on Thursday night, but the 18-year-old made an immediate impact.

Bedard played 21:17 of time on ice in his first game back, not being eased in at all while assisting on his team's lone goal and adding four shots in a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bedard's idol Sidney Crosby stole the show, scoring twice to help the Pens beat the Hawks at the United Center on Thursday.

Despite the defeat, Bedard proved he's a warrior — and not just because he returned from a broken jaw weeks ahead of schedule.

“I’m not going to go in there scared. You can’t be nervous going out there,” Bedard asserted after the game, per The Athletic's Mark Lazerus. “Be smart, for sure, I'm not a big guy, I’m smaller than pretty much everyone. Gotta have your head up and be ready.”

Connor Bedard returned well ahead of schedule

It was Bedard's first game action since Jan. 5, when he sustained a broken jaw on a hit by New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith.

“Energy felt good,” the phenom explained afterwards, per NHL.com's Bruce Miles. “It was good to be back, for sure. I want to play games. I mean it's frustrating watching and you can't be out there with your guys and try and help them win and go to battle with them. It's what I love to do. It's all I really want, so it's nice to be back, for sure.”

Although the Blackhawks remain in the basement of the Western Conference, Bedard's return will be an enormous boost to a team that doesn't have too much left to play for this season.

“I think he’s really worked on his conditioning, and it showed tonight,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said of his best player.

“I didn’t see any drop-off. I thought he was ready to go in the second half of that game. So when there were opportunities to get him out there a little bit more, I tried to do that. He was good. So that’s a good start for him and hopefully we can build on that as a team and get better next game.”

Connor Bedard will look to help the Hawks bust out of an eight-game funk when the Ottawa Senators are in town for a Saturday afternoon matinee.