Penguins jump Oilers early to close back-to-back

EDMONTON – It didn’t take the Pittsburgh Penguins long to show the Edmonton Oilers how strong their game has been of late.

Anthony Mantha scored twice as the Penguins took a 3-0 lead before the game was even three minutes old and cruised from there to a 6-2 victory over the Oilers on Thursday.

Pittsburgh scored its first three goals in 37 seconds, the third fastest three-goal outburst in franchise history.

“I don’t think you expect that,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “(Mantha) had a big shift there, he got a couple of goals and he gave us a boost and I thought we were ready to go from the start and sometimes it works out that way.”

It was the shortest span in which the Oilers have allowed three goals in their existence.

“Everyone played really well, that’s a big team win,” Mantha said. “Almost every line was able to find the back of the net, our kill was awesome and (Arturs Silovs) was great in net. It’s a great all-around night.”

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist and Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Egor Chinakhov also scored for the Penguins (25-14-11), who have won three straight and have gone 10-2-2 in their last 14 outings.

One of the biggest takeaways from the big victory was that the Penguins had played the night before in Calgary, defeating the Flames 4-1.

“When you’re playing a back-to-back and the other team is fresh, there are plenty of things you can have for excuses: Travel, time, tired all that, and I thought with our group it’s a huge credit to them, there was none of that,” said Penguins head coach Dan Muse.

“Those guys came out ready to go and I really liked the offensive execution and I liked a lot of things we were doing on the defensive side, the way the guys were working, just the overall team game.”

The Penguins scored those three goals on their first four shots. Just 2:20 into the game, Justin Brazeau made a nifty pass through a defender’s legs to Mantha, who deflected it in. Twenty-two seconds later, Mantha scored his second of the game and 16th of the campaign on a breakaway. Pittsburgh went up 3-0 just 15 seconds after as Crosby deflected a pass from the slot into the net for his 27th of the season, extending his points streak to five games.

“Sometimes when you play back-to-back you’re into it and sometimes as the game goes on, you might feel it a little bit,” Crosby said. “But I thought we played all four lines and there wasn’t a ton of penalties, which allowed us to get in rhythm there and I thought that everyone contributed and that was a big factor.”

Silovs made 29 stops to earn the win in net for the Penguins.

“He was awesome,” Muse said. “There were some huge saves there throughout the entire game and I thought it was another game where it was big saves but also at big moments, where maybe the momentum could have really swung the other way and he came up big. So I thought it was a really strong win.”

The Penguins are now 117-10-7 when both Malkin and Crosby score in the same game.

Defenceman Jack St. Ivany has more than doubled his season’s point total in the last two games. After three assists in his first 14 games, St. Ivany had two helpers against Calgary on Wednesday and added another two assists on Thursday.

Pittsburgh hadn’t won in Edmonton since Dec. 20, 2019.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.

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