PITTSBURGH (AP) Conor Sheary scored twice, including the winner with 1:42 left, to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin also scored for Pittsburgh while Matt Murray stopped 25 shots in his first home start since Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Sidney Crosby was held without a point but helped begin the sequence that set up Sheary for the go-ahead goal.
Edmonton star Connor McDavid assisted on all three Oiler goals, more than holding his own against Crosby, his childhood idol. Jordan Eberle scored twice and Patrick Maroon picked up his fifth of the season. Cam Talbot made 27 saves but couldn’t make a two-goal lead stand up.
Pittsburgh got the late lead when Edmonton forward Benoit Pouliot’s clear attempt smacked off Sheary and into the net.
The Penguins won their fourth straight and remained unbeaten in regulation (6-0-1).
Crosby, a two-time MVP and Stanley Cup winner, and McDavid, the player most likely to one day replace him as the face of the NHL, tried to downplay their first ever meeting. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan joined in, saying he wasn’t going to feed the ”drama” by intentionally matching up Crosby’s No. 87 with McDavid’s No. 97 at every opportunity.
Maybe, but there they were across each other from the opening faceoff, with Crosby winning a clean draw amid the flashbulbs.
It didn’t take long for the 19-year-old McDavid to show what all the fuss was about.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 1:57 in on Sheary’s goal before McDavid went to work. Crosby praised McDavid’s speed, calling it the foundation of his success. It was on full display for most of the night.
McDavid kickstarted a mini 2-on-1 with Eberle and slipped a short crossing pass to his teammate that Eberle buried over Murray’s glove 14:23 into the first. McDavid was a blur less than three minutes later, racing into the Pittsburgh zone then weaving his way around defenseman Brian Dumoulin before finding Maroon.
The Penguins, fresh off a 3-0-1 road trip fueled by a resurgent Crosby, briefly found themselves flat-footed trying to keep pace. Talbot turned away a 4-on-1 break to set up an Edmonton rush that ended with Eberle skating in alone on Murray before sending the puck past the sprawled goaltender.
Pittsburgh recovered to tie it, with Hagelin burying a rebound late in the second to bring the Penguins within a goal and Malkin tying it 5:33 into the third with a backhand deflection.
NOTES: The Penguins scratched F Tom Kuhnhackl and Ds Chad Ruhwedel and Steve Olesky. … Edmonton scratched Fs Zack Kassian and Taylor Beck and D Dillon Simpson. … The Penguins went 0 for 3 on the power play. The Oilers were 0 for 2.
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