The Pittsburgh Penguins let a big lead slip away against the lowly Edmonton Oilers on Thursday evening, but they found a way to finish strong and escape with a 6-4 victory at Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins jumped out to a huge 4-0 lead by the early second period, but the Oilers stormed back by scoring four consecutive goals to tie the game before the Penguins pulled away.
Brandon Sutter had a huge first period, scoring two goals, the first of which was on a shorthanded breakaway at 4:16 of the first period. He followed that up with an even-strength tally on a big rebound let loose by Oilers goaltender Ben Scrivens at 9:37 of the first. It was Sutter’s seventh NHL two-goal game.
David Perron added to the Penguins lead on a gorgeous feed from Sidney Crosby, who centered it from behind the Oilers net to a streaking Perron at 13:36 of the first. For Perron, it was a sign that he may be back in the saddle after scoring just two goals in has past 14 games.
The Penguins earned a power play just seconds into the second period, and it was Crosby who cashed in with a slapshot at 1:01 of the second. Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin assisted on the goal. It was Malkin’s 40th assist of the season and 700th career NHL point.
Crosby’s goal chased Edmonton starter Ben Scrivens, who made nine saves on 13 shots in 21:01 of ice time. He was replaced by backup Richard Bachman.
Edmonton got a power play goal of their own just past the midway mark of the second. With Ben Lovejoy in the box for high-sticking, Anton Lander slammed home a rebound past Marc-Andre Fleury and put the Oilers on the board.
About three minutes later, another rebound found its way into the Penguins net as Jordan Eberle found a loose puck in front of Fleury and flicked it home to make things interesting at 4-2.
The Oilers continued the momentum from the end of the second period into the third and capitalized on another Penguins penalty when Benoit Pouliot took a feed from veteran center Derek Roy and rifled it past Fleury for Edmonton’s second power play goal of the game at 4:51 of the third period.
Roy was then the beneficiary of a crazy bounce when Penguins defenseman Derrick Pouliot attempted to clear a rebound out from in front of the Penguins net. His clearing attempt hit the stick of the forechecking Roy and bounced backwards into the Penguins net to tie the game at four with just under 10 minutes remaining.
With a pair of big games looming on the horizon on this weekend, overtime against the struggling Oilers would not have been a desirable outcome for the Penguins. Steve Downie saw to it that an extra period would not be necessary as he crashed the net hard and poked a rebound past Bachman at 14:38 of the third period to give the Penguins the lead for good.
A minute later, Patric Hornqvist added an insurance goal on yet another pretty feed from Crosby and the relieved Penguins skated away with a 6-4 victory. Crosby finished with three points – a goal and two assists – giving him 70 points on the season and just two back of the New York Islanders’ John Tavares for the NHL scoring title.
Bachman took the loss in relief for the Oilers despite stopping 19 of 21 Penguins shots. Fleury earned the win, despite the four goals against, making 25 saves.
The Penguins will be right back in action at Consol Energy Center on Saturday afternoon as they host the Boston Bruins at 1:00 p.m.
Photo credit: NHL
