{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Pittsburgh 4, Edmonton 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Where: PPG PAINTS Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Kelly Sutherland
Linesmen: Derek Amell, Steve Barton
Attendance: 18576

PITTSBURGH -- Connor McDavid got all the points in his first head-to-head matchup with Sidney Crosby. Thanks to Conor Sheary, the Pittsburgh Penguins got the all-important two points.

Sheary scored his second goal of the game with 1:42 remaining, and the Penguins overcame the Edmonton Oilers' top-line speed and a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 victory Tuesday night.

The Oilers' fleet line of Patrick Maroon, McDavid and Jordan Eberle capitalized on a succession of up-ice rushes to open a 3-1 lead in the second period, but Evgeni Malkin tied it in the third with a remarkable one-handed sweep of Phil Kessel's pass to the net.

Eberle scored twice and McDavid, matched up against Crosby for the first time, set up all three Edmonton goals. Crosby didn't score, the first time he hasn't collected a point in 14 games.

"I don't think we wanted to be in a back-and-forth game," Crosby said. "They've got a lot of skill and they showed it tonight."

The Penguins showed a lot of resiliency with yet another in a succession of comebacks from two-goal deficits this season.

Sheary won it by scoring from the side of the net after Oilers left winger Benoit Pouliot whacked twice at the puck. Pouliot was trying to push it out of Sheary's reach, but it appeared to deflect off Pouliot's stick and past goalie Cam Talbot.

"You get a late bounce like that, it's tough," Eberle said.

"The puck kind of popped out and I tried to jam it in," Sheary said. "It was a little bit of a lucky bounce."

But, as Crosby pointed out, Sheary has shown a knack of collecting such goals after breaking into the league midway through last season. "He's shown he's got that scoring touch when he gets those chances," Crosby said.

Penguins goalie Matt Murray won his third in a row, making 25 saves despite allowing the three successive goals.

"They're really good at turning the puck the other way, they're a pretty young team and they're going to get better," Murray said. "They're going to be dangerous in the next couple of years. ... But I thought I made some good saves."

The Penguins (9-2-2) improved to 6-0-1 in their past seven games.

Talbot made 27 saves.

The Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit against the Oilers on home ice only once before in their history, a 6-5 win on March 17, 1992, when Kevin Stevens and Ron Francis scored 49 seconds apart.

"It's a hard way to lose," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said after his team finished up a 2-2-1 road trip. "We got tremendous performances from a number of individuals, and some real disappointing performances from a few others. It just goes to show, when you're playing what's likely the best team in the National Hockey League, you need everybody playing, and it doesn't matter how well the star players play."

The Penguins, returning home from a 3-0-1 road trip that was mostly in the West, quickly opened a 1-0 lead when Sheary's slap shot from the left circle beat Talbot to the glove side only 1:57 in.

"He's young and fast and that allows him to create things for himself," Crosby said.

Then the Oilers (9-4-1) turned on the speed -- which, only a season ago, was the asset that drove the Penguins to the Stanley Cup.

"They're quick, no question, play a similar game to us. The pace of the game was fast," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "It was an exciting game to be part of."

With McDavid leading a series of odd-man rushes off Penguins missed shots at the other end, several after Talbot couldn't prevent long rebounds, the Oilers took a 3-1 lead in less than a nine-minute span.

McDavid fed Eberle for a short-range wrist shot from the right circle at 14:23 of the first, and that was only the start.

Less than three minutes later, McDavid's up-ice rush along the boards led to his backhand pass to Maroon at the left post, and Maroon beat Murray from a few feet out for his fifth goal.

Early in the second, the Penguins couldn't convert a rare 4-on-1 rush, and that led to another odd-man rush with McDavid setting up Eberle for his second of the night and fifth of the season at 3:20.

"Any time playing a superstar in league, and a really good team, you want to bring you're A-game, and I thought for the most part we played well," Eberle said. "We capitalized on some chances. I thought Connor played really well in the D-zone, and a lot of that was creating odd-man rushes."

The Penguins pulled back within 3-2 about nine minutes later, with defenseman Trevor Daley's pass to the crease deflecting off Patric Hornqvist's skate directly to Carl Hagelin for his second goal of the season.

NOTES: Penguins G Matt Murray, coming off a 5-0 shutout Saturday at San Jose, made his first start at PPG Paints Arena this season after missing several weeks with a broken right hand. He also started back-to-back games for the first time. ... Oilers F Zack Kassian, injured Saturday against the New York Islanders, was out of the lineup. ... The Oilers wrapped up a five-game road trip. The Penguins were coming off a 3-0-1 road trip in which all but one game was on the West Coast. ... The Penguins called up D Steve Oleksy and D Chad Ruhwedel from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL), but neither was in uniform. They also sent F Tom Sestito to their top farm club. ... The Penguins scratched F Tom Kuhnhackl. ... Former No. 1 draft picks Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid met for the first time in the NHL, and they opposed each other on the opening faceoff. According to ESPN, the first Mario Lemieux-Wayne Gretzky matchup also was on Election Day, in 1984.
Top Game Performances
 
Edmonton   Pittsburgh
Jordan Eberle 3 Points Conor Sheary 2
Jordan Eberle 2 Goals Conor Sheary 2
Connor McDavid 3 Assists Trevor Daley 1
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Cam Talbot .871 Save Percentage Matt Murray .893
Cam Talbot 27 Saves Matt Murray 25
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Edmonton 28 3 0-2 3-3 6 31
Pittsburgh 31 4 0-3 2-2 4 28
Upcoming Games
  • Pittsburgh will play their next game at home against Minnesota. The Penguins have a W/L % of .625 after a win and .800 after a loss.
  • Edmonton will play their next game at home against Dallas. The Oilers have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .600 after a loss.