Oilers 3, Penguins 2 (SO)
PITTSBURGH -- Centers Matt Hendricks and Jordan Eberle scored in a shootout Saturday night to give the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Center Leon Draisaitl, on a play set up by left winger Taylor Hall's hard work, and left winger Lauri Korpikoski gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead.
Center Evgeni Malkin forged a 2-2 tie for Pittsburgh, including a highlight-video goal.
Pittsburgh could not score on a 56-second, five-on-three power play late in the second period and Edmonton left winger Benoit Pouliot failed to score on a penalty shot at 4:56 of the third period that would have broken the 2-2 tie.
The injury-depleted Oilers continued to play without center Connor McDavid, right winger Nail Yakupov and LW Rob Klinkhammer. They entered the game in last place in the NHL.
Edmonton scored twice in the first period.
After Hall got two cracks at Pittsburgh goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, Draisaitl got the second rebound and made good on half an open net from point-blank range for a 1-0 lead at 2:02.
That gave Draisaitl 18 points since he was called up Oct. 29.
Five seconds into an Oilers power play, they made it 2-0. Center Mark Letestu won a faceoff at the right dot to center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who fed defenseman Andrej Sekera. His knuckling shot from the center point deflected off Korpikoski and past Zatkoff at 7:30.
Malkin's singular effort brought Pittsburgh to within 2-1 only 48 seconds into the second period. Moving through the right circle one-on-one against Oilers defenseman Mark Fayne, he curled away from Fayne and completed the spin-o-rama by shoveling a backhander past Edmonton goaltender Anders Nilsson's glove.
Malkin struck again at 3:29 -- six seconds into a Penguins power play -- to tie the score 2-2. He took a feed from defenseman Kris Letang and from the top of the right circle, pumped once, hesitated and blasted a slap shot past Nilsson.
That gave Malkin seven goals and 10 points in the past six games. Letang's assist was the 299th point of his career. Center Sidney Crosby got the secondary assist, extending his point streak to a season-best five games.
NOTES: Pittsburgh C and captain Sidney Crosby was in the lineup, so apparently no issues cropped up from a cross-check to the neck (and one to the back) he got Friday from Columbus C Brandon Dubinsky. The NHL issued a one-game suspension to Dubinsky. Asked about the league's supplemental discipline, Penguins coach Mike Johnston said simply, "He got suspended, so I presume it was for the right time." ... Pittsburgh leaves Sunday for a stretched-out four-game Western Conference road trip that doesn't bring the club home until Dec. 10. ... The Penguins scratched LW Daniel Sprong and D David Warsofsky for the fifth game in a row. ... Both teams lost in overtime Friday and traveled to Pittsburgh, so neither held a game-day skate Saturday. ... Edmonton activated D Justin Schultz from injured reserve and assigned D Griffin Reinhart to Bakersfield of the American Hockey League. Schultz, who had been out since Oct. 25 because of a back injury, was in the lineup. ... Edmonton LW Jujhar Khaira made his NHL debut, on the fourth line, the third player of East Indian descent to play in the league. ... The Oilers scratched D Eric Gryba, LW Luke Gazdic and D Andrew Ference. ... Edmonton closes a five-game road trip Monday at Toronto.