Thursday night brought us one of the NHL’s more interesting interconference matchups. Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers squared off with Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. These two teams already matched up once this season. The Oilers won the first contest 4-0 and have outscored the Penguins 14-1 over the past two seasons.
Game Recap
Despite being dominated in the past by the Oilers, the Penguins came out firing early, scoring their first goal less than four minutes into the game. Rickard Rakell got his 23rd goal of the season, burying a rebound off a shot that Marcus Pettersson took from the point and Bryan Rust tipped in the slot.
The Penguins’ top line was not done. Four minutes later, Rust scored his 16th goal of the season to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Pettersson also assisted this goal, giving him and Rust two points in the first eight minutes. Then, just over two minutes later, Kevin Hayes extended the Penguins lead to three less than 10 minutes into the game with his sixth goal.
The Oilers would finally answer with seven minutes to go in the first period. Leon Draisaitl tapped in a rebound after Alex Nedeljkovic robbed Zach Hyman on a breakaway. However, the Penguins would answer back immediately on a goal from Drew O’Connor, his sixth of the year. Again, the goal was assisted by Rust, his third point in the first period, and Sidney Crosby, his second point, which moved him past Joe Sakic into ninth all-time for most career assists.
The Penguins took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission, but extending that to 5-1 early in the second did not take long. On the power play six minutes into the second period, Crosby scored his 12th goal of the season and his third point of the game. The Oilers would then bring the game back within three on Draisaitl’s second goal.
To end the second period, the Oilers found themselves on the power play after Rust took an inexcusable interference penalty on McDavid. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins converted on the ensuing power play for the Oilers and made the game 5-3 going into the final frame.
The third period was much less eventful than the first two. The Oilers applied pressure late in the third but could not beat Nedeljkovic. The Oilers ended up outshooting the Penguins 43-26, but the early lead the Penguins took was too much for the Oilers to overcome, and the Penguins came out with a 5-3 victory.
