The Edmonton Oilers scored four goals in the second period on the way to a 7-2 rout of the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night.
“I liked the way we skated,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. “And when we’re skating at that level I think we’re a tough team to handle. The goals went in, sure, but we did a lot of good things defensively as well. It was a good team effort.”
The Oilers are 11-1-5 in their last 17 games. The Penguins have lost four in a row.
The Penguins scored on the game’s first shot, just 1:05 in, when Kris Letang swooped in from the point and beat a downed Stuart Skinner.
The Oilers came back with a couple of power play goals. Connor McDavid was heading behind the net as he banked the puck in off Tristan Jarry’s back.
Leon Draisaitl swatted in the rebound of a Tyson Barrie point shot to make it 2-1.
The Oilers poured it on in the second period.
Kailer Yamamoto dug in a rebound for his first goal since Jan. 9. Less than two minutes, later Devin Shore scored for the first time since March 17, 2022.
Draisaitl set up Warren Foegele for his tenth, then Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sniped his 28th to record his 600th career point.
It was 6-1 Oilers after two.
Casey DeSmith replace Jarry to start the third.
The Penguins had two goals disallowed in the period. One was after the Oilers successfully challenged for offside on Penguins power play. The other came when Jeff Carter tipped the puck in with a high stick.
McDavid scored on a penalty shot late in the game, deking to the forehand to fire home his 46th. Letang replied with a power play goal for Pittsburgh.
The Oilers outshot the Penguins 44-24.
McDavid finished with two goals and two assists.
“I thought we were really good,” McDavid said. I thought Pittsburgh got off to a good start and Stuart did a good job of holding us in and we found our legs and really took it to them.”
The Oilers, 32-19-8, will visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (The 630 CHED Face-off Show starts at 9 a.m., game begins at 10:30 a.m.)