Pens restore order
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins spent 21 minutes building a massive lead over the Edmonton Oilers and the next 30 doing their best to give it away.
Poor backchecking. Spotty decision-making. The details that have been a hallmark during Pittsburgh’s recent surge vanished.
Steve Downie and Patric Hornqvist restored order just in time, scoring just over a minute apart late in the third period to help the Penguins avoid an embarrassing collapse with a 6-4 win on Thursday night.
Downie’s 12th goal of the season on a rebound at 14:38 put Pittsburgh back in front after the Penguins let a four-goal advantage slip away. Hornqvist doubled it 1:06 later with a snap shot from the left circle to help the Penguins win for the seventh time in nine games.
“We were lazy,” Hornqvist said. “We were comfortable. We didn’t work hard enough to win. That can’t happen again. Now we’ve learned our lesson. ”
If the Penguins want to stay in the thick of the clustered Metropolitan Division, they don’t really have a choice.
Brandon Sutter scored twice for Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby added his 23rd goal of the season and finished with three points. David Perron netted his 11th since coming to Pittsburgh from Edmonton in January.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots but Pittsburgh needed an unlikely wake-up call from the Western Conference’s worst team to win.
“There are swings in games, but we don’t (want to) allow it to swing that far away and grab it back as quick as you can,” Crosby said.
Anton Lander, Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot and Derek Roy scored for the Oilers, who have lost six straight. Yet the blowout that appeared in the offing when Crosby made it 4-0 just 1:01 into the second never materialized.
Pittsburgh let the Oilers turn a listless rout into something far more compelling. Roy tied it 4-4 when he batted down a botched clearing attempt and knocked the puck past Fleury 10:04 into the third.
Downie, dropped to the fourth line, reclaimed Pittsburgh’s momentum. He pounded a rebound past Richard Bachman — who came in for ineffective goalie Ben Scrivens early in the second period — to put the Penguins back up. Hornqvist, off an assist from Crosby, gave Pittsburgh the breathing room it needed.
