Leon Draisaitl scored twice, and Connor McDavid had three assists for the Oilers (25-13-3), who had won their past four. Stuart Skinner made 21 saves. They had outscored Pittsburgh 37-9 in seven consecutive wins since a 5-2 loss on Dec. 20, 2019.
“I don’t think the tipping point was tonight, going into the game, that they were ready to play and they were fired up,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It happens throughout the year. You have a good game, the next one’s not. I think for 40 minutes, we have a heck of a game. The first 20 minutes, we were not ready for it and they outplayed us.”
Rickard Rakell put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 at 3:19 with his team-leading 21st goal of the season, a wrist shot in the crease after Rust tipped a point shot from Pettersson.
Rust made it 2-0 at 7:22, taking a pass from Pettersson in the left face-off circle for a snap shot past a screen from Rakell. He ended a six-game goal drought with his 16th this season.
Kevin Hayes then extended the lead to 3-0 at 9:46 on a one-timer in the slot off a pass from O’Connor behind the net.
“It feels good when we do that, that's for sure,” Rust said. “I think for us, that was our goal, to be on our toes, be all over them, be on top of them, because they're very fast, a skilled team.”
Draisaitl cut it to 3-1 at 12:33 with a backhand on a loose puck two seconds after Nedeljkovic made a sprawling save on Zach Hyman’s breakaway.
O’Connor scored on a wrist shot from the left circle, pushing it to 4-1 at 13:41.
“Obviously, not the start we wanted,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “At that time, it’s just a matter of looking forward. Can’t really do much about the past. So, I thought we came out better in the second. Took some ground on them. But at the end of the night, we can’t dig ourselves that big of a hole.”
