GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Penguins 1

EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers earned their fourth consecutive victory on Sunday night to complete the sweep of a weekend back-to-back with an impressive 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Rogers Place.

"I thought we played well considering the back-to-back with some travel," Brett Kulak said. "We had the benefit of getting in at a decent time yesterday, but they're still hard. You get tired, especially at this point of the season, but it was nice to see the start we had and goaltending was really good. That's always a big part of the team, so it was a good night for us."

Zach Hyman scored two goals in the victory and now has 12 goals in his last nine home games, reaching 42 goals on the season with goals in the first and second periods as one of six Oilers who recorded multiple points in the win alongside Leon Draisaitl (3A), Warren Foegele (2A), Connor McDavid (1G, 1A), Ryan McLeod (1G, 1A) and Brett Kulak (2A).

Calvin Pickard was exceptional in his 11th start of the season, turning aside 22 of 23 shots to record his eighth win in his last nine starts and improve his overall record to 8-3-0, while Cody Ceci and Corey Perry each chipped in with goals 18 seconds apart during a four-goal third period for Edmonton.

The Oilers now head out on the road for a four-game road trip that begins Tuesday at TD Garden, where they'll do battle with the Boston Bruins.

FIRST PERIOD

Make it NINE straight home games with a goal for Edmonton's leading scorer, who just can't seem to stop scoring right now.

After opening the scoring on the rebound that came off Connor McDavid's initial shot on a two-on-one, Zach Hyman has now scored in nine straight home games after last being held scoreless on home ice all the way back on Jan. 23 in a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The winger notched his team-leading 41st goal of the campaign on an odd-man rush that was created in the defensive zone by Leon Draisaitl, who got the puck past Erik Karlsson at the blueline to set up his linemates for the two-on-one rush that saw McDavid's original effort finished off by Hyman on the backhand.

The assist makes it 25 straight home games for the captain with a point, while stretching his overall point streak to 10 games to help give the Oilers the early 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

"I think we took advantage of a team that had been traveling and played late last night," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We had a little bit of travel too, but they were at the end of a road trip and I thought we took advantage of it.

We were up one after the first period, but I thought we really built our game. I thought we were strong from the start. We didn't take any steps back and we were able to capitalize on those chances in the second period."

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers would score four goals in the middle frame to take a sizeable five-goal lead into the second intermission with the help of some secondary contributors who found find the back of the net.

"I thought our execution was really noticeable tonight making clean passes, making the right decisions at the right time, and everyone was contributing and hopefully, we can build off that," Foegele said.

Corey Perry got the scoring started for the Oilers when a bad pinch by the Penguins at the blueline was seized upon by Foegele, who flipped the puck into the neutral zone to set up a three-on-one for Perry, McLeod, and the opportunistic Cody Ceci who had jumped into the odd-man rush.

McLeod had his eyes up looking to make a pass and picked out the stick of Perry after the 38-year-old, who had made his way in front with his stick on the ice to collect his eighth goal of the season.

Leon Draisaitl bounced the puck out on Hyman's first goal with a quick bit of skill at the blueline in the first period, and the German had to be fast again when he pushed it towards his teammate's stick to score his second of the contest almost five full minutes after Perry made it a two-goal lead.

Draisaitl threw a quick slap pass back across the slot that fell onto the stick of Hyman, who showed poise when chipping his ensuing shot over the outstretched Nedeljkovic for a three-goal Oilers lead at 14:05 of the second period.

Overall, Hyman now has 10 goals in his last eight games and is now tied for second in the NHL with Florida's Sam Reinhart in the goal-scoring race behind Toronto's Auston Matthews, who has 53.

"There isn't much he hasn't done for the Edmonton Oilers or the City of Edmonton the way he's capitalized on his opportunities," Knoblauch said. "He's doing so many things well on the ice.

Ryan McLeod scored his first goal in 18 games from a ridiculous angle with 1:13 left in the middle stanza, putting his 10th goal of the campaign off the mask of Nedeljkovic from along the goal line to make it a four-goal Oilers advantage and nearly put the game to bed with more than a period left to play.

"It seems to be a new trend in the league," Draisaitl said. "I thought Clouder was great tonight. Their line as a whole was really good and it was really a nice goal by him."

Cody Ceci showed shades of Game 7 of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he took a feed from Warren Foegele from behind the Penguins' net just 18 seconds later and wristed his follow-up effort through traffic for his second goal of the season, stretching Edmonton's lead to 5-0 through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

Despite having his shutout bid ended, Calvin Pickard turned in another terrific performance as Edmonton saw out their fourth straight victory over the final frame.

"It's in the back of your mind, but you're just looking forward to the next shot and you got to stay in it," Skinner said. "At 6-0, we're most likely going to win at that point, so I thought we defended really well all night and it was just an unfortunate bounce."

The Oilers weren't done scoring when McDavid got on the board by burying a hard rebound from the right circle that came off a hard shot from Draisaitl following the zone entry. McDavid reached 97 points with the goal and is only three points away from notching his seventh 100-point campaign.

Pickard made a tight in-close stop on forward Rickard Rakell during a Pittsburgh power play to keep the clean sheet intact through the midway mark of the third period, but a lucky bounce over the net to Evgeni Malkin gave the Penguins a late consolation goal in the final eight minutes of regulation.

"I didn't see much, honestly," Pickard said. "It kind of took a weird turn behind me as I was turning my head, and then, there's about a second there of hesitation. I turned my head and Malkin was putting it in.

"It was unfortunate obviously, but I got a couple of good bounces along the way tonight, too."