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Pens hold off Oilers in high-scoring affair

Mar 13, 2015 - 3:09 AM Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Steve Downie scored the game-winning goal with 5:22 left in regulation as the Pittsburgh Penguins fended off a ferocious comeback from the Edmonton Oilers for a 6-4 win on Thursday.

Brandon Sutter scored twice and Sidney Crosby finished with a goal and two assists for the Penguins, who improved to 7-1-1 over their last nine games.

"We got a little comfortable out there and we stopped skating, we stopped making plays," Downie said.

Patric Hornqvist and Downie each tallied a goal and an assist, David Perron also lit the lamp and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves in the win.

Derek Roy and Jordan Eberle each posted a goal and an assist, while Anton Lander and Benoit Pouliot also scored for the Edmonton, which dropped its sixth straight game.

"It showed a lot, coming back down 4-0 in a town like Pittsburgh," said Pouliot.

Ben Scrivens gave up four goals on 13 shots in the game's first 21 minutes, then Richard Bachman stopped 19-of-21 shots in relief.

The Oilers have not won in Pittsburgh since Jan. 10, 2006.

In the third, Pouliot got the Oilers within one with a wrister from the left circle for a 4-3 game 4:51 into the frame.

The game was tied at 4-4 after a failed Pittsburgh clear in front caromed off Roy and past Fleury midway through the third.

Downie took the rebound of Maxim Lapierre's wrister, skated across the crease and shot past the glove of a diving Bachman to give the Penguins a 5-4 edge with 5:22 remaining.

Just 1:06 later, Hornqvist sealed the win on a one-timer from the right circle.

Sutter hustled through the neutral zone and finished off a short-handed breakaway with a backhander to open the scoring 4:16 into the game.

Prior to the midway point of the first period, Sutter fired home the rebound of Downie's shot past Scrivens for a 2-0 Penguins lead.

Perron moved up into the slot and one-timed Crosby's pass from behind the net with 6:24 left in the opening stanza.

The Penguins picked up where they left off 1:01 into the second as Crosby's slapper on the man advantage gave them a commanding four-goal advantage.

Edmonton got on the board with 7:53 left to play in the second. Lander whacked the rebound of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' shot past Fleury. Three minutes later, Eberle cut the deficit to 4-2 as he crashed the net and backhanded a loose puck past a sprawled Fleury from atop the goalmouth.

Game Notes

The Penguins gave up a four-goal lead and won in regulation for the first time since Nov. 13, 1971 , a 6-4 victory over Los Angeles ... Pittsburgh is 7-0-2 in its last nine games against Edmonton ... Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin became the fourth player in franchise history to tally 700 points with the team, joining Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Crosby ... Pittsburgh improved to 31-5-5 when scoring first.