Sidney Crosby had a three-point night and the Pittsburgh Penguins got the better of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 5-3 at PPG Paints Arena.
With this performance of one goal and two assists, Crosby overtook Joe Sakic (1,641) for ninth place on the list of top scorers in NHL history. He now has 1643 points in 1315 games. Mario Lemieux ranks eighth with 1723 points.
Bryan Rust also scored a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh (18-17-8), which signed its first victory in five games (1-1-3). Rickard Rakell, Kevin Hayes and Drew O’Connor also found the back of the net, while goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 40 saves.
Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for Edmonton (25-13-3), which, unlike its opponent, suffered a first defeat in five outings. McDavid had three assists and goaltender Stuart Skinner blocked 21 pucks.
Five goals were scored in the first period, including four by the Penguins who retreated to the locker room ahead 4-1. Pittsburgh scored the first three goals of the game to take a 3-0 lead. Rakell, with his 21st goal at 3:19, Rust, with his 16th at 7:22, and Hayes, with his sixth at 9:46, led the charge for the home team. Draisaitl put Edmonton on the board to cut the lead to 3-1 with his 30th goal at 12:33. O’Connor, playing his 200th NHL game, responded with his sixth goal at 13:41 to make it 4-1.
-The Oilers dominated the second period 20-6 in the shot column and managed to reduce the gap to 5-3 after 40 minutes. Crosby first took advantage of a power play at 5:42 to score his 12th goal and increase his team’s lead to 5-1. However, Draisaitl, with his second of the evening at 10:58, and Nugent-Hopkins, with his 11th scored on the power play at 19:15, reduced the visitors’ deficit to two goals.
The Oilers kept up the pressure in the third period with 16 shots on goal, compared to seven for the Penguins, but Nedeljkovic refused to give in.
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin missed a second straight game with an upper-body injury.
