EDMONTON — Tristan Jarry made 26 saves and Jared McCann scored the eventual winner as the Pittsburgh Penguins emerged with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Chad Ruhwedel, Joseph Blandisi, Kris Letang and Brandon Tanev also scored for the Penguins (21-10-4), who have won four games in a row.
Zack Kassian and Riley Sheahan responded for the Oilers (19-15-4), who have lost six of their last seven.
The Penguins scored eight minutes into the first period, as Oilers starter Mike Smith got a piece of a Ruhwedel point shot, only to see it slowly trickle behind him and into the net.
Pittsburgh made it 2-0 five minutes later when Zach Aston-Reese sprung Blandisi for a breakaway as he came out of the penalty box and beat Smith.
Edmonton got on the board seven minutes into the second period as Kassian tipped his 13th of the season past Jarry off of a Darnell Nurse shot.
The Penguins regained their two-goal edge with four minutes left in the middle frame when McCann picked off a pass and went in on a clear breakaway, beating Smith with a backhand deke.
The Oilers got a huge shorthanded goal with 23 seconds left in the second as Sheahan elected to shoot on a 3-on-1 and capitalized.
Pittsburgh responded to that goal on the same power play 38 seconds into the third as Letang blasted home his ninth of the year.
Tanev put the game away with an empty-net goal.
Both teams are back at it on Saturday. The Oilers host the Montreal Canadiens and the Penguins head to Vancouver.
NOTES
The Penguins came into the game 14-0-4 in their previous 18 games against the Oilers, last losing in regulation time to Edmonton on Jan. 10, 2006… The Penguins have been battling a number of injuries with Sidney Crosby (core muscle), Nick Bjugstad (lower body), Brian Dumoulin (lower body), Patric Hornqvist (lower body) and Justin Schultz (lower body) all out… Oklahoma State University star running back Chuba Hubbard, who hails from the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff at the game. Hubbard blazed to 1,936 rushing yards for the Cowboys this season, the second-most in a single season at Oklahoma State since NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders’ NCAA-record season total of 2,850 in 1988.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2019.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press