Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby isn’t ready just yet to pass the torch, but rising star Connor McDavid showed on Tuesday why he may one day challenge the superstar for the title of the NHL’s best player.
The Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a three-point night from the 19-year-old McDavid with a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the first head-to-head match-up between the two.
Conor Sheary scored his second goal of the game with 1:42 remaining, and the Penguins battled back from a two-goal deficit in front of a crowd of 18,500 at the Consol Energy Centre arena.
“I don’t think we wanted to be in a back-and-forth game,” Crosby said. “They’ve got a lot of skill and they showed it tonight.”
The Oilers top line of Patrick Maroon, McDavid and Jordan Eberle capitalised on a succession of rushes to open a 3-1 lead in the second period. Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin tied it in the third with a brilliant one-handed sweep of Phil Kessel’s pass to the net.
Eberle scored twice and McDavid set up all three Edmonton goals. Crosby didn’t score, the first time he hasn’t collected a point in 14 contests.
The Penguins showed a lot of resiliency with yet another in a succession of comebacks from two-goal deficits this season.
Sheary won it by scoring from the side of the net. Oilers Benoit Pouliot was trying to push it away from Sheary, but it appeared to deflect off the Oilers’ stick and past goalie Cam Talbot.
“The puck kind of popped out and I tried to jam it in,” Sheary said. “It was a little bit of a lucky bounce.”
