The Pittsburgh Penguins arrived in Chicago carrying a modest but useful bit of momentum. A 2-1 shootout win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday had steadied things after a three-game stretch without a victory, leaving Dan Muse’s club at 3-2-1 and sitting third in the Metropolitan Division.

On paper, Tuesday night at the United Center looked like a favorable stop on a four-game road swing against a Blackhawks team that had opened the season 1-5-0 and was averaging just two goals per game.

That calculation changed Monday when Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill told reporters that captain Connor Bedard was “trending” toward playing against Pittsburgh, via Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times.

The 21-year-old center has yet to appear in a regular-season game after undergoing left-shoulder surgery in early July following an off-season training incident.

The original timeline called for roughly four months, which would have kept him out until early November. Full-contact practice on Sunday, followed by continued work on the top line, has accelerated the timetable enough that a season debut is suddenly realistic.

For the Penguins, that is unwelcome news. Chicago has looked limited without its most dynamic offensive player.

The power play has clicked at just over 7 percent, and the supporting cast has struggled to generate consistent chances.

Bedard led the Blackhawks with 30 goals and 75 points in 69 games last season even while dealing with a separate shoulder issue.

His presence immediately upgrades every aspect of the attack, from five-on-five creation to the top power-play unit where he has already been skating alongside Patrick Kane in recent practices.

Pittsburgh’s own group of veterans, led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, has produced enough early in the season to keep the club competitive, and the recent shootout win showed signs of better structure and contributions throughout the lineup.

Facing a depleted Blackhawks side offered a chance to build on that. Inserting a healthy Bedard, especially one who has said he feels normal shooting and handling the puck, turns the matchup into something closer to a full-strength test of Pittsburgh’s defense and goaltending on the road.

Blashill has cautioned that it is never easy to step straight into high-level games after missing months, and the final decision will still depend on medical clearance.

Even so, the mere possibility forces the Penguins to prepare for a different Chicago team than the one that has been searching for answers through six games.

What looked like a manageable opener to the trip now carries the risk of confronting the league’s newest captain at or near full capacity. For a Pittsburgh side trying to establish consistency early, that is the kind of variable that can complicate an otherwise encouraging stretch.