GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Penguins 4

PITTSBURGH, PA – History wasn't going to wait much longer for Leon Draisaitl.

The German recorded his 1,000th career NHL point with four assists, becoming the first German-born player to reach the milestone, joining Connor McDavid in the exclusive club after the captain also produced four points with two goals and two assists on Tuesday in a 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"A lot of hard work. A lot of people who helped along the way," Draisaitl said. "These accomplishments, they're always directed at the single player, but there are so many people that play such a big part in that, and I'm highly aware of the fact that I got a lot of people in my life over the last couple years that have kept everything off my plate and let me do what I do.

"I'm just super grateful, super thankful, and proud."

Draisaitl accomplished the feat with the secondary assist on Zach Hyman's eighth goal of the season that came on an extended five-on-three power play for the Oilers at 8:22 of the first period, helping open the scoring against former teammate Stuart Skinner with Brett Kulak in the penalty box to make history.

"Just a special player. I can't say enough good things," McDavid said. "He does it each and every year at both sides of the rink. A really special accomplishment. As a person, he works his tail off. I see it firsthand every day. It's not surprising that he reached this accomplishment so quickly. So many great years are ahead of him."

McDavid scored his first of two goals just 14 seconds later with another dazzling goal on this road trip en route to a four-point effort of his own, extending the reigning NHL First Star of the Week's point streak to seven games, totalling an incredible 21 points with nine goals and 12 assists.

"He's been dominant," Draisaitl said. "He has stretches like that every season where he seems unstoppable. So hopefully, he can carry this on for a while."

In the battle between Stuart Skinner and Tristan Jarry following Friday's trade between the Oilers & Penguins, the 30-year-old came out on top by making 26 saves in his first trip back to PPG Paints Arena as a member of the Blue & Orange. Stuart Skinner stopped 17 of 22 shots in his Penguins' debut.

"I thought both boys handled themselves well," McDavid said. "Unique situation, obviously. Probably a strange night for both guys, and I thought they handled themselves just fine. Jarrs stood in there and made some big saves for us, and I wish we had shut it down for him better than that. We shouldn't have given up four, but credit to Stu too for stepping into a weird spot. I thought he made some good saves."

Evan Bouchard extended his own point streak to three games (1G, 3A) with a power-play goal and an assist, while forwards Matt Savoie and Vasily Podkolzin tallied Edmonton's other goals in the six-goal explosion that gives them 35 goals scored in their last seven games, moving their overall record to 16-12-6.

The Oilers will continue their road trip on Thursday with a matchup at TD Garden against the Boston Bruins.

'EINTAUSEND' POINTS FOR DRAISAITL

Apologies to Stuart Skinner & Brett Kulak, but history wasn't about to wait for their former teammate to become the only German-born player to reach 1,000 points in League history.

"I think the whole situation was odd just how quickly we played them after the trade happened," Draisaitl said. "I'm sure there are lots of people who felt a little odd about it. Two amazing human beings, two really good hockey players, and we wish them nothing but the best here."

All that the former Oilers' netminder and defenceman could do was watch, either from the crease for Skinner or the penalty box for Kulak, as Draisaitl made history with the secondary assist on Zach Hyman's power-play goal that came on a five-on-three man advantage 8:22 into the first period.

The Oilers were already on an extended five-on-three power play for 52 seconds when Kulak aired an attempted clearance over the glass, adding extra time to the two-man advantage for Edmonton that they were keen to exploit, unlike they could on Sunday with their early chance in a 4-1 defeat to the Canadiens.

Draisaitl fed a cross-ice pass over to McDavid, who had his shot knocked down by the stick of a Penguins' penalty-killer before it bobbled towards the front of the crease for Zach Hyman to push past Skinner for the 1-0 lead to give Draisaitl his historic secondary assist to reach the century – something only accomplished by 104 players in League history and five players outside North America.

"It's pretty amazing," he said. "There are some incredible names on there, some names that are absolute legends in our world, and to put myself into that list is special for sure."

But most importantly, the first German to ever do it – something that he never imagined would be possible when he was younger.

"No, it was surely just a dream," he said. "Growing up in Germany, it seemed like it was a long way away, so I'm extremely proud of that."

The 30-year-old became the fifth Oilers player to reach the 1,000-point milestone, while also becoming the fifth-fastest player born outside North America to reach the milestone, doing so in his 824th career game to put him behind only Peter Stastny (682), Jari Kurri (716), Jaromir Jagr (763) and Nikita Kucherov (809) and ahead of Evgeni Malkin (848).

The Oilers players flooded onto the ice to celebrate their teammate's amazing milestone in front of Skinner's crease, with the crowd at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh applauding his accomplishment, which has only been achieved by 103 players in League history.

With the assists on Hyman's goal, Draisaitl and McDavid moved ahead of Wayne Gretzky & Paul Coffey for fourth on the all-time list for most goals assisted on by a pair of teammates, and point 1,001 for No. 29 came just 14 seconds later with the layoff pass on a remarkable effort from McDavid to make it 2-0.

The Oilers were still on the power play, getting possession off the ensuing faceoff at centre ice after taking the lead, with Draisaitl handing it off to McDavid in the neutral zone before the captain took it the rest of the way himself by going around Parker Wotherspoon and tucking a terrific solo goal past Skinner.

It was McDavid's second highlight-reel tally in three games as part of Edmonton's current five-game road trip after he blazed past the Maple Leafs to score a jaw-dropping opening goal in his team's 6-3 victory in Toronto this past Saturday.

In 17 career games against Crosby & the Penguins, he's now posted 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points.

"It's something I get up for playing against Sid," he said. "One of the best to ever do it. I always love challenging myself against him, and for whatever reason, it's been a good matchup for me."

Over in the opposite crease, Tristan Jarry was making his return to Pittsburgh with the Oilers and was bailed out by his new coaches for the first time early in the frame after Justin Brazeau's top-shelf marker for the Penguins' top-ranked power play in the NHL was overturned by a coach's challenge for offside.

The Penguins were able to exact some revenge with 45 seconds left in the frame, making it 2-1 before the intermission when Alec Regula's attempted clearance on the kill struck the linesman at the faceoff dot to keep it in the zone and extend possession for the Penguins.

The puck fell kindly to Anthony Mantha, who was stopped sharply by Jarry before the rebound was home by Tommy Novak to cut Pittsburgh's deficit.

SECOND PERIOD

The parade to the penalty box continued into the middle frame, with the Oilers getting three more looks and converting another PPG via Evan Bouchard, to make it 4-2 through 40 minutes after Matt Savoie scored at even strength and Erik Karlsson converted the Penguins' only man advantage of the period.

But unfortunately, the Oilers would be down to 11 forwards for the rest of the game when Curtis Lazar went down almost two-and-a-half minutes into the frame and didn't return to the contest after needing to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel into the Oilers dressing room with a lower-body injury.

Skinner would've liked to have back Savoie's seventh goal of the season at 15:25 of the period, when the NHL rookie's shot along the ice from the right of his crease managed to squeak under his left pad when it was looking like it might go wide of his net, restoring the two-goal lead for the Oilers.

Since Nov. 12, the St. Albert product now has 10 points (6G, 4A) over the 17 games he has played in, with his 10 points this season being the fifth-most points among NHL rookies this season since that date behind only Beckett Sennecke (16), Ivan Demidov (12), Braeden Bowman (11) and Matthew Schaefer (11).

His seven goals are tied for the sixth-most this season behind Kapanen (10), Sennecke (10), Schaefer (9), Matthew Wood (8) and Ben Kindel (8).

The Penguins returned it to a one-goal game 1:49 later on the power play on a heavy shot from Erik Karlsson that went through under the left arm of Jarry.

Draisaitl wasn't the only one chasing history on Tuesday, with Sidney Crosby picking up an assist on Karlsson's goal to move himself within one point of matching Mario Lemieux's franchise record of 1,723 points.

But the Oilers were back on the power play a few minutes later, thanks to a Justin Breazeau cross-checking penalty against Mattias Ekholm, and Evan Bouchard made no mistake by unleashing a deadly top-shelf snipe on Skinner just 3:46 after Karlsson had pulled the Penguins back within one.

Bouchard is now riding a three-game point streak (1G, 3A) with a goal and an assist on Tuesday, marking his seventh multi-point game of the season and the 69th of his career after notching his 20th career power-play goal to join Paul Coffey (69), Charlie Huddy (25) and Boris Mironov (24) as the only Oilers defencemen in franchise history to reach the milestone.

Draisaitl got on the scoresheet with his third assist – all of them the power play in the first 40 minutes – along with McDavid posting a three-point night with the secondary helper as the Oilers led 4-2 through two periods in Pittsburgh.

THIRD PERIOD

Tristan Jarry made a vital save on Anthony Mantha's backhand attempt on a partial breakaway two-and-a-half minutes into the third period that could've made it a lot closer for the Penguins before he was fortunate when the puck somehow stayed out while sitting against the post not long after to keep it 4-2.

Vasily Podkolzin scored Edmonton's fifth on an odd-man rush at 13:13 of the frame to pick up his fifth goal in his last seven games, putting away an easy finish that fell onto his stick after Draisaitl's lateral feed meant for Savoie struck the skate of Parker Wotherspoon.

The Oilers needed to persevere over a four-minute high-sticking penalty assessed to Ty Emberson, and their penalty kill held its own against Pittsburgh's top-ranked penalty kill with the stop on their extended man advantage that played its part in the Blue & Orange getting this victory over the goal line.

The Penguins pulled Skinner for the extra attacker with over four minutes left and quickly got one back through Bryan Rust to make it 5-3 before they loaded up again at six-on-four, but McDavid came 1:50 later to give the captain a four-point night along with Draisaitl.

Danton Heinen added a consolation tally with 14 seconds left to wrap up the 6-4 final in favour of the Oilers, led by their stars McDavid and Draisaitl, but Jarry's teammates said post-game they thought he did an excellent job dealing with the pressure of going back to the rink he'd played parts of 10 seasons with the Penguins only four days after being traded to the Oilers.

"He's a vet," Draisaitl said. "He knows what he's doing. I think that last one, we probably want back for him for the stat line, but I thought he was great."