In a marquee matchup between Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, their respective teams could not have come into the game on more opposite trajectories. The Edmonton Oilers came into the game on a three-game win streak, fresh off a 2–1 win in Seattle on Saturday afternoon, arriving in Edmonton around 7 PM local. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins blew a big lead to the Flames in Calgary late last night, and after plane troubles did not arrive to the hotel in Edmonton until the wee hours of the morning.
With both starters playing in their respective games on Saturday, the Sunday night match up was between Alex Nedeljokvic and Calvin Pickard.
Hyman opens up the scoring
Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman break out of the dzone on a two-on-one against Marcus Pettersson. Pettersson ends up on his belly early, trying to take away the pass. McDavid has the puck in a shooting position, and fires a dart off Nedeljkovic’s glove pad, which leaves a rebound for Hyman to bang in.
Edmonton’s second goal
The Pens get three forwards and a dman caught low, leading to a three-on-one the other way for Edmonton. Corey Perry gives the puck to Ryan McLeod early, who drives down the wing. Like the first goal, Kris Letang leaves his feet to take away the pass across. McLeod is able to reach with his stick and get it under Letang’s leg for Perry to chip over the pad. Nedeljovic does everything right on the play, but can’t get to the perfectly executed back door pass.
Hyman gets his second of the night
The Oilers run a set play after winning the offensive zone faceoff. Draisaitl goes right for the far side, who makes a one timed pass back to the short side for Hyman to shoot into the yawning cage. Nedeljkovic had played the Draisaitl as a shot, so he’s down and out by the time the puck gets to Hyman on the backdoor.
McLeod gets a goal
McLeod gets the puck from Brett Kulak near the goalline with seamingly little danger. However, he has enough time and space to collect the puck and pick his spot, putting it off Nedeljekovic’s ear and in. Ned’s mistake is pulling away from the shot and flattening out along the goal line instead of leaning into the short side post and squaring up.
Edmonton’s fifth goal scored by Ceci
Nedeljkovic is down in reverse VH as Warren Foegele circles the net. Foegele makes the pass just as he reaches the half way point, after which Ned has moved to his glove side window. The issue comes when the puck gets to Cody Ceci. There are three Penguins between the goal and the shot, but none of them block the puck. Nedeljkovic had stayed down in his butterfly without a sight line, and gets beat over his blocker, having not adjusted to cover that side.
McDavid earns the Oilers another goal
The Oilers break into the zone three-on-three. Draisaitl sets up the dman, pulling the puck into his skates before firing a hard snap shot onto Nedeljkovic’s glove pad. The rebound comes directly to McDavid who wastes no time before potting it. Ned makes a good rotation on a decent attempt to recover but there’s just too much distance to cover after the poor control on the first shot.
Pittsburgh finally scores
Kulak ends up in a battle behind the net with Rielly Smith. Ceci half commits to cutting Smith off, waving his stick. This causes Smith’s pass to get redirected over the net to where Evgeni Malkin is waiting for a one timer before Kulak can recover back to the front of the net. Pickard had no chance on the play.
Edmonton earned another two points
The Oilers high danger chances came early and often. Nedeljokvic was able to keep the Oilers’ attack mostly at bay through 20 minutes, but the bounces started turning Edmonton’s way in the second and the game was over by the time the third started. Calvin Pickard had a solid start for Edmonton on the second half of the back-to-back, but wasn’t overly tested by Pittsburgh’s anemic offence.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
