GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Penguins 3

EDMONTON, AB -In a game billed as a clash of generational talents in Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, it was a full-team effort by the Oilers that proved to be the difference in their 6-3 victory over the Penguins.
Edmonton directed 47 shots on the Penguins goal, with 38 of them coming after the game's first period. The Oilers would score five-unaswered goals to hand the Pennsylvanian squad their first regulation loss of the season.
The battle of former first-overall picks and likely future hall-of-famers in Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid was a quiet one. Crosby would net a goal on the evening, with McDavid being held off the scoresheet but leaving with the win.
Campbell turned away 30 of 33 shots to pick up his third victory of the season. The Oilers will now head out on the road for three games starting with a rematch against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Full Highlights
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. PIT
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Leon Draisaitl
POST-RAW | Evander Kane
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

The Oilers got the elusive first goal of the contest courtesy of the keen passing of Evan Bouchard and the quick mitts of Zach Hyman.
At the 4:45 mark of the first period, Bouchard fired a 150-foot pass to the Oilers winger lurking behind the Penguins defence. Hyman came in on Tristan Jarry with a quick forehand-backhand deke to lift the opening goal over the netminder's stick and into the back of the net.
The marker was Hyman's second of the season as the forward has gotten off to a better than a point-per game start in the season's opening six contests.

PENGUIN PUSH BACK

Unfortunately for the Oilers, their lead would be short lived.
With Evander Kane serving two-minutes for a hook in the hands of Kasperi Kapanen, the Oilers penalty-kill woes flared up again. It would be Rickard Rakell who would take advantage of the space afforded to him by the Oilers player in the box, stepping in from the left circle and firing a shot off the post and in past Campbell.
The Swedish winger's third goal of the season came with 9:16 remaining in the first period, but it wouldn't be the last time the Penguins struck before the horn blared to end the opening frame.

In the much-lauded matchup of Crosby versus McDavid, it was the veteran of 1,114 NHL games for Pittsburgh that found his name on the score sheet first. The play started with Rakell collecting the puck and making a strong drive down the Oilers right wing, before spinning around and finding the illustrious centreman wide open on the far side of Jack Campbell for the knee-drop one-timer.
The goal was Crosby's fourth of the season and 521st of his career, to give the Penguins the 2-1 advantage 1:45 after they tied the game. Pittsburgh would dominate the rest of the period, partially due to a Darnell Nurse double-minor for high sticking, leaving the opening 20-minutes with a 18-9 shot advantage.

CAPTAIN THE COMEBACK

After what looked like a back breaking goal by Bryan Rust -- literally banking the puck off the back of Jack Campbell and in for a 3-1 Penguins lead -- a single moment would fire up the Oilers squad.
With McDavid on a two-on-one opportunity, former Oiler Jeff Petry would obstruct the Oilers captain, causing him to crash into the Penguins goalpost and all of Rogers Place to hold their breath. The captain would be ushered to the bench by the Oilers training staff, while the powerplay unit would hit the ice looking for revenge.
The Oilers first found their vengeance off the stick of Tyson Barrie. The Edmonton blueliner blasted a shot from the point, which ping-ponged off multiple Penguins players and sticks and ended up in the twine behind the Pittsburgh netminder.
Luckily for the Oilers, their captain would only miss a shift or two before returning to the ice and getting involved in an offensive play in the Penguins zone. The incident appeared to add fuel to a smouldering Oilers offence, turning their attack into a full-on inferno for the remainder of the period. Edmonton essentially set up shop in the Penguins zone for the final 15-minutes of game action, barraging Jarry with rubber to the tune of a 26-4 shot advantage in the frame.

The effort would pay dividends multiple times, with Edmonton burying three more goals behind Jarry in the final four minutes of the period. First, Draisaitl would pick out Kane from behind the Oilers net and the sniper made no mistake with the little space that was afforded to him, slipping the tying shot past Jarry.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would slam home a Hyman feed past Jarry just 3:18 later to give the Oilers the lead, but the cherry on top of the period would come off the stick of Leon Draisaitl.
The Deutschland Dangler would show off why he's earned that nickname over the last several years, undressing Brian Dumoulin at the left faceoff circle and whipping a backhander by Jarry for the silky finish and a 5-3 Oilers lead.

TOP PERFORMER

A complete team effort.
Altough the Oilers didnt have the start they wanted, after the switch was flipped, it didn't matter who coach Woodcroft tapped on the shoulder they would be carving up ice on Pittsburgh's side of the blueline.
Evander Kane played with an edge after the McDavid incident, racking up a goal and an assist on nine shots on the night. Four Oilers had multi-point nights (Kane, Hyman, Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins) while every player besides Derek Ryan and Markus Niemelainen was credited with at least one shot on goal.
Ryan would however pick up the assist on Ryan McLeod's third period tally to double up on the Penguins with a 6-3 score.

PARTING WORDS

Tyson Barrie on the team's response after the penalty on McDavid:
"Quite frankly, we had not a very good first period. So we had a little chat in here after the first and we just all had more to give. You never want to see Connor go down. It was nice to get him back quick, but we had a heck of a second period and just continue to push and build off that."
Barrie on the players discussion after the first:
"It was just to a guy, everyone just having more and just winning your little 50/50 battles and skating. It just seemed like were flat footed. We were getting beat the pucks, and the effort wasn't there. It didn't seem like so. Got to give credit to the guys in here to come out and against a good team to put two periods like that together."
Barrie on the Draisaitl and Kane stepping up after McDavid got banged up:
"Yeah, he stepped up big time, and made big plays. Kane made some big plays. Obviously, Drai was pretty special, and that kind of got us going."

Draisaitl on what changed after the first period:
"Our legs. We were just not skating and it seems to be very obvious with our group that the second we start skating and start being engaged, we're extremely hard to stop. It just takes us too long to get to that point as of right now. So that's something we can obviously work on."
Draisaitl on if the first intermission talk helped:
"Well, it obviously did. It helped us. We took too many penalties. When you almost half a period shorthanded, you got guys out of rhythm, guys not in the game, and then it's hard to find your legs, especially early on. So obviously proud of the group and the way we responded in the second and third, but we shouldn't have to rally back from two or three goals every game."
Draisaitl on finding chemistry with Kane and Yamamoto:
"Yeah. Again, I thought we got our legs going there a little bit and just forced them to make some mistakes and capitalize on it. Obviously two very smart players that know where to go and it's a good mix between those two, right? So, I thought we'd play well."
Draisaitl on the performance of Jack Campbell tonight:
"Yeah, he was great. Again, he gave us a big time chance last game, kept us in it this game. He's been amazing for us all season. So very lucky, very happy to have him."
Draisaitl on how the Oilers have performed over the first six-games of the season:
"I think we're not necessarily happy with where we're at right now, but it's a great chance for us to go on the road, and build a road game, and just be with the guys. I think we're all very excited about that."
Coach Jay Woodcroft on the players first intermission meeting:
"Yeah. That's on the players. The players were the ones who decided to get it together a little bit. There were some things in the first period that we wanted to clean up as a team, but the players are the ones that go out and do that. That's full credit, full marks to our players for playing probably our best period of the year in the second period. That set us up for success tonight, so full marks to our guys."
Woodcroft on how Kane-Draisaitl-Yamamoto played as a line:
"The impetus was after that power-play goal, and it was out of necessity. It was just a gut feel, but I liked what I saw in the shift that they played together. When Connor came back and we talked it over with our coaches, we just felt it was best to keep that line together and we thought they did a good job on Crosby's line the rest of the night. Full marks to those three because they played a heck of a game."
Woodcroft on the the vibe after the McDavid injury:
"I sensed something in the building. I thought there was a collective holding of everyone's breath. Obviously, when your captain goes into the net hard like that, you want to make sure that he's okay first of all, and then once you saw him skate off and go into the dressing room, I felt better about it. Then, I thought our powerplay responded. There was some good fortune on that goal, but there was some good stuff that happened on it. From there we just started to roll. I think that kind of sequence of events lead to that period that you saw."