Draisaitl’s OT Winner Lifts Oilers past Penguins

PITTSBURGH — Leon Draisaitl scored in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

Draisaitl had Alex Galchenyuk on his back when he flipped a rolling puck past Matt Murray on a breakaway 2:37 into overtime for his NHL-best 13th goal of the season. Draisaitl had 12 goals and 25 points in October and has seven goals and 10 points during a five-game point streak.

Colby Cave also scored for Edmonton, which has three wins in its last seven games after starting 7-1. Mike Smith stopped 51 shots for the Oilers.

Brian Dumoulin scored a short-handed goal for Pittsburgh, which has lost four of its last six. Murray made 27 saves.

The Penguins previously won six straight over the Oilers. Pittsburgh has not lost at home in regulation against Edmonton since Jan. 10, 2006, an 18-game streak.

Dumoulin tied the game with a third-period short-handed goal on Pittsburgh’s 47th shot. Bryan Rust, on the rush, dropped a pass to Dumoulin, who beat Smith to the glove side with 6:46 left. Pittsburgh had a 51-22 advantage in shots through regulation.

Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin
Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin (Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports)

Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid met for the seventh time head-to-head in a battle of generational talents. It was the first time McDavid’s Oilers bested Crosby and the Penguins. McDavid finished minus-1 with three shots, while Crosby was also minus-1 with two shots. McDavid, who played his 300th NHL game on Oct. 29, has three goals and 10 points against Crosby and the Penguins. Crosby has two goals and four points in seven games against McDavid and the Oilers.

Both were drafted No. 1 overall, Crosby in 2005 and McDavid in 2015. Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, has won two Conn Smythe trophies, two league MVPs and a pair of scoring titles. McDavid has won two Art Ross trophies and a league MVP in 2017.

Crosby and the Penguins won the six previous games, dating to their first matchup on Nov. 8, 2016. Six of the last seven games, including Saturday, have been one-goal contests and four of them went to overtime or a shootout. Last season, Crosby scored a memorable overtime goal in Edmonton to give Pittsburgh a 6-5 win.

Evgeni Malkin returned from a lower-body injury to put Pittsburgh at full strength for the first time this season. The Penguins went 7-4 without Malkin, who missed 11 games.

Pittsburgh Penguins Alex Galchenyuk Evgeni Malkin
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Alex Galchenyuk is congratulated by Evgeni Malkin (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

At one point through the first month of the season, the Penguins played without six regulars, including Malkin, four other top-nine forwards and a defenceman on their top pairing.

Pittsburgh outshot Edmonton 24-10 to begin the game, and 35-15 through two periods, but the Oilers scored the first goal at 7:21 of the second. Cave worked around Marcus Pettersson, cut to the net from a sharp angle and beat Murray.

NOTES

Pittsburgh’s power play went 0-for-5 and is 0-for-18 in the last eight games. … Penguins D John Marino played his first game against his former team. Edmonton drafted Marino in 2015. … Pittsburgh scratched Dominik Kahun, Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel. Scratches for Edmonton were Riley Sheahan, Tomas Jurco and Brandon Manning.

UP NEXT

Oilers: Begin a three-game homestand against Arizona on Monday

Penguins: Visit Boston on Monday.

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Dan Scifo, The Associated Press