In Edmonton, the Oilers took an early 1-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night off a strike from Zach Hyman.
The Pens replied with three straight before the Oilers regrouped to reel off five of their own i a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three points in the win for Edmonton.
“We were just not skating, and it seems very obvious with our group that the second we start skating and being engaged that [we] are extremely hard to stop,” Draisaitl said. “It just takes us too long to get to that point as of right now. That is something we can obviously work on.”
Jack Campbell made 32 saves in the Oilers win.
Rickard Rakell started the Pens rally to tie the game, 1-1, and Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust scored for a 3-1 Pittsburgh lead.
“We got outplayed,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We had a real good start. I thought our first period was really strong [and] that was an area we knew we had to get better. I thought we had a real good first period, but we got outplayed from there.”
Edmonton struck for four goals in the second period.
Tyson Barrie (power play) and Evander Kane scored to get the Oilers even at 3-3.
“The second period was a good period for this home stand, and I thought we did a good job executing when we had to,” Kane said. “I thought a big reason was because we got pucks to the net. It breaks down their coverage, creates some confusion in their D-zone and we got a lot of second and third chances off that, and that’s something we need to continue to do.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put the Oilers up, 4-3.
Draisaitl scored with less than a minute left in the middle frame for a 5-3 lead.
“We just got on our heels, we didn’t forecheck well and gave them some time and space,” Crosby said. “They’re a dangerous team and so, if you give them some time and space, they’re going to make plays and we found that out.”
Ryan McLeod added a strike in the third period for the 6-3 final.
“It’s on the players. The players were the ones who decided to get it together a little bit,” Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. “There were some things in the first period that we wanted to clean up as a team, but it’s the players who are the ones that go out and do that.
“Full marks to our players for playing probably our best period of the year in the second period, and that set us up for success tonight.”
Tristan Jarry made 41 saves in the Pens loss.
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