Both were prepared No. 1 in general, Crosby in 2005 and McDavid in 2015. Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, has won two Conn Smythe prizes, two league MVPs and a pair of scoring titles. McDavid has won two Art Ross trophies and a league MVP in 2017.
This time, the Oilers won in overtime.
"Both goalies played truly well," Crosby said. "We simply couldn't find a method to get more than one. We had a lot of excellent looks and (Smith) made some conserves. It didn't bounce our method."
Malkin returns
Evgeni Malkin returned from a lower-body injury to put Pittsburgh at full strength for the very first time this season. The Penguins went 7-4 without Malkin, who missed 11 games.
At one point through the very first month of the season, the Penguins played without six regulars, consisting of Malkin, four other top-nine forwards and a defenceman on their top pairing. Malkin played 19:45 on Saturday and tied for a team-best six shots.
"You can see the impact he has on our team when he's in the lineup," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan stated. "I believed for his very first video game back after missing out on a fair quantity of time, he had a respectable video game."
Pittsburgh outshot Edmonton 24-10 to begin the game, and 35-15 through two periods, however Cave scored the Oilers' first goal at 7:21 of the 2nd.
Smith kept it close, allowing Draisaitl to come through in overtime.
"He was our best gamer by far," Draisaitl said of Smith. "He boggled the mind and a big reason that we won."
Pittsburgh's power play went 0-for-5 and is 0-for-19 in the last 8 games. Penguins D John Marino played his very first video game versus his previous group. Edmonton drafted Marino in 2015. Pittsburgh scratched Dominik Kahun, Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel. Scratches for Edmonton were Riley Sheahan, Tomas Jurco and Brandon Manning.
Goaltender Mike Smith and forward Leon Draisaitl stole the spotlight for the Edmonton Oilers in a game that featured NHL superstars Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.
"It was obviously a quite hectic night for me," Smith stated. "(Pittsburgh) came at us hard and kind of put us back on our heels. We stuck with it and discovered a way to get two more big points."
Draisaitl provided the Oilers the second point with the overtime winner.
Draisaitl had 12 goals and 25 points in October and has seven goals and 10 points during a five-game point streak.
Colby Cave, remembered from the American Hockey League a day earlier, also scored for Edmonton, which has three wins in its last 7 video games after beginning 7-1.
Brian Dumoulin scored a short-handed goal for Pittsburgh, which has actually lost 4 of its last 6. Murray made 27 conserves.
The Penguins formerly won 6 straight over the Oilers. Pittsburgh has actually not lost at house in regulation against Edmonton since Jan. 10, 2006, an 18-game streak.
Dumoulin connected the game with a third-period short-handed goal on Pittsburgh's 47th shot. Bryan Rust, on the rush, dropped a pass to Dumoulin, who beat Smith to the glove side with 6:46 left. Pittsburgh had a 51-22 benefit in shots through policy.
"We strove," Crosby said. "We had some truly likelihoods and of course we didn't perform. We had enough chances to win the game."
Crosby, McDavid quiet in 7th head-to-head battle
Crosby and McDavid met for the seventh time head-to-head in a fight of generational talents. It was the very first time McDavid's Oilers bested Crosby and the Penguins. McDavid ended up minus-1 with three shots, while Crosby was likewise minus-1 with 2 shots. McDavid, who played his 300th NHL game on Oct. 29, has 3 objectives and 10 points against Crosby and the Penguins. Crosby has two objectives and 4 points in 7 games against McDavid and the Oilers.