Sidney Crosby scored twice, Reilly Smith and Bryan Rust added goals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

The Penguins had lost to Minnesota, Winnipeg and Florida in succession, but controlled their third road game in four starts from the outset. With the victory, Pittsburgh moved past Washington and into sixth place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blackhawks, last in the NHL, dropped their eighth straight game (0-7-1).

Blackhawks star rookie Connor Bedard had an assist in his return a 14-game absence because of a broken jaw. After a sluggish first period, he set up Phillipp Kurashev with a nifty pass through traffic midway through the second. Kurashev dumped it past sprawling goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. That drew the largest roar of the night from the United Center crowd of 19,423 for this year’s top draft pick.

Bedard lost the game’s opening face-off to Crosby, then lost contact with the veteran center, who deflected Marcus Pettersson’s fluttering pass over the left shoulder of Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom 15 seconds in.

The Blackhawks host Ottawa on Saturday.