Sidney Crosby had one goal and two assists, beating Joe Sakic for ninth all-time in points in a 5-3 victory for the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Edmonton Oilers. It happened at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
Crosby recorded 1,643 points (604 goals, 1039 assists), ahead of Sakic (1,641) and behind Mario Lemieux (1,723) in eighth.
“They’re one of the most dangerous teams in the League,” Crosby said. “It doesn’t take much. They can make a lot out of nothing. So, it was a good challenge, a good test for us.”
Bryan Rust followed Crosby’s lead to deliver a goal and two assists, Drew O’Connor scored a goal and an assist, while Marcus Pettersson had two assists for Pittsburgh (18-17-8). Before then, the Penguins had lost four in a row and three straight in overtime or a shootout. Alex Nedeljkovic made 40 saves.
Leon Draisaitl scored twice, while Connor McDavid got three assists for Edmonton (25-13-3), who had won their last four. Stuart Skinner recorded 21 saves. The Oilers outscored the Penguins 37-9 in seven straight victories since a 5-2 loss on December 20, 2019.
“I don’t think the tipping point was tonight, going into the game, that they were ready to play and they were fired up,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It happens throughout the year. You have a good game, the next one’s not. I think for 40 minutes, we have a heck of a game. The first 20 minutes, we were not ready for it and they outplayed us.”
Rickard Rakell gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 3:19 with his club-leading 21st goal of the term, a wrist shot in the crease after Rust tipped a point shot from Pettersson.
Rust made the score 2-0 at 7.22, stealing a pass from Pettersson in the left face-off circle for a snapshot ahead of a screen for Rakell. He snapped a six-game goalless run with his 16th this year.
Kevin Hayes then drew out the lead to 3-0 at 9:46 on a one-timer in the slot off a pass from O’Connor behind the net.
“It feels good when we do that, that’s for sure,” Rust said. “I think for us, that was our goal, to be on our toes, be all over them, be on top of them, because they’re very fast, a skilled team.”
Draisaitl levelled it to 3-1 at 12:33 with a backhand on a free puck two seconds after Nedeljkovic made a save on Zach Hyman’s breakaway.
O’Connor scored for Pittsburgh on a wrist shot from the left circle, pushing it to 4-1 at 13:41.
“Obviously, not the start we wanted,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “At that time, it’s just a matter of looking forward. Can’t really do much about the past. So, I thought we came out better in the second. Took some ground on them. But at the end of the night, we can’t dig ourselves that big of a hole.”
Crosby made the score 5-1 on a power play at 5:42 of the second period, a snap shot from below the right circle off a slap pass from Michael Bunting.
“I’m running out of superlatives,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Crosby. “What he’s accomplishing, first of all, his body of work in the League, his legacy that has been built to this point, speaks for itself. He’s the consummate pro. He just represents our sport, the League, the Pittsburgh Penguins in such a great way.
“He just carries himself with so much grace and humility and integrity. And he’s a fierce competitor on the ice.”
Draisaitl pulled the Oilers to within 5-2 at 10:58 with a one-timer set up by McDavid, his NHL-leading 31st goal.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored again for Edmonton on a wrist shot from the slot, cutting it to 5-3 on power play at 19:15.
“We expect a lot better out of ourselves to start games, for sure,” Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak said. “We pride ourselves on that. We just came back in, addressed it. We knew we didn’t like it.”
