Draisaitl surpasses 1,000 NHL points in Oilers win against Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Leon Draisaitl surpassed 1,000 NHL points by getting four assists for the Edmonton Oilers, who defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-4 at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Draisaitl, who became the first German-born player in NHL history to reach the mark, has 1,003 points (416 goals, 587 assists) in 824 games since being selected in the first round (No. 3) by Edmonton in the 2014 NHL Draft.

"A lot of hard work. A lot of people that helped along the way,” Draisaitl said. “These accomplishments, they're always directed at the single player, but there's so many people that play such a big part in that. I'm highly aware of the fact that I've got a lot of people in my life over the last couple of years that have just kept everything off my plate and kind of let me do what I do and what I wanted to do. Just super grateful, super thankful, and, of course, a little bit proud."

The 30-year-old forward got his 1,000th point with the secondary assist on a goal from Zach Hyman that put Edmonton ahead 1-0 during a 5-on-3 power play at 11:38 of the first period. He sent a cross-ice pass that Connor McDavid quickly directed down to the crease, where Hyman scored with a backhand to extend his goal streak to four games (six goals).

“[Draisaitl] works his tail off,” McDavid said. “I see it firsthand every day. It's not surprising for him to reach this accomplishment and reach it so quickly with so many great years ahead of him still. That's a great thing."

McDavid had two goals and two assists to extend his point streak to seven games (nine goals, 11 assists), and Hyman and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (16-12-6), who are 5-1-1 in their past seven games. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in his first game against his former team.

Sidney Crosby had an assist to pull within one point of Mario Lemieux for the most in Penguins history. Crosby has 1,722 points (644 goals, 1,078 assists) in 1,384 games. Lemieux retired in 2005 with 1,723 points (690 goals, 1,033 assists) in 915 games.

Stuart Skinner made 17 saves in his debut for Pittsburgh (14-9-9), which has lost six straight (0-2-4) and finished 0-2-3 on a five-game homestand. Erik Karlsson and Tommy Novak each had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Mantha had two assists.

“It obviously adds up,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “It wears on you. As I’ve said before, it’s going to be different every night. No two games are the same. So, we have to just focus on the things that we do.”

Jarry and Skinner were swapped as part of a trade on Friday. This was the first game on record with two goalies going head-to-head within a week of being traded for one another.

“It was definitely different,” Skinner said. “Super weird, like, taking a nap and thinking that I'm playing the old team. ... Obviously, not the way that I wanted to start. I think I definitely could have helped these guys out on a few goals.”

McDavid scored 14 seconds after Hyman on the remaining power play to make it 2-0 at 11:52, skating around Parker Wotherspoon before going forehand-to-backhand around Skinner’s left pad.

Novak cut it to 2-1 at 19:15 with a backhand off a rebound from Mantha, but Matt Savoie extended it to 3-1 at 4:35 of the second period on a wrist shot through Skinner’s five-hole.

Karlsson pulled Pittsburgh to within 3-2 at 6:24, scoring with a one-timer set up by Crosby on a power play.

Bouchard made it 4-2 with a wrist shot at 9:36 for the Oilers’ third power-play goal.

“It was an exciting game, especially early,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It was back and forth. Then it ended up being more of a special teams game. Fortunately, we were able to capitalize on three of them."

Vasily Podkolzin pushed it to 5-2 at 6:47 of the third period, scoring on a loose puck in the slot before Bryan Rust cut it to 5-3 at 16:51 by chipping in a puck from the crease.

McDavid scored into an empty net to make it 6-3 at 18:41, his 20th goal of the season.

Danton Heinen then finished a pass from Novak at 19:46 for the 6-4 final.

“The season's always going to be a bit of a roller coaster, and obviously right now we're in it in a downswing,” Rust said. “And I think we can't just go around here moping around and coming in every day with long faces. I think each day is a new day. Think about this one for the rest of the night, learn our lessons, move on.

“Obviously, we've had a few too many lessons to learn here recently, but we can't sit and sulk and dwell on it."

NOTES: McDavid and Draisaitl had at least four points in the same game for the 12th time, tying Ken Hodge and Phil Esposito for the fourth-most instances by a duo in NHL history, behind Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri (30 times), Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy (23), and Bobby Orr and Esposito (13). Edmonton has never lost when they each record at least three points (47-0-0). ... Draisaitl is the fifth-fastest player born outside of North America to reach 1,000 points, behind Peter Stastny (682 games), Jari Kurri (716), Jaromir Jagr (763) and Nikita Kucherov (809). ... Penguins defenseman Brett Kulak, who was involved in the trade that swapped Skinner and Jarry, had two blocks in 15:22 of ice time in his Pittsburgh debut. ... Pittsburgh defenseman Jack St. Ivany had four hits and three blocks in 14:52 in his season debut after returning from a lower-body injury he sustained in a preseason game Oct. 1.