The first Sidney Crosby-Connor McDavid matchup of the 2019-20 season ended up being stolen by a great goaltending performance from Mike Smith, goals by Colby Cave and Brian Dumoulin, and one of the *other* superstars in the game scoring the game-winner in overtime.
Mike Smith’s 51 saves and Leon Draisaitl’s league-leading 13th goal of the season 2:37 into overtime proved to be the difference for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon as they went into Pittsburgh and stole a 2-1 win against the Penguins.
What all stood out from this game? Here are three quick takeaways.
1. Mike Smith stole this. The Penguins welcomed Evgeni Malkin back to the lineup on Saturday afternoon and for the first time all season had their full roster healthy at the same time. They carried the play all day, outshooting the Oilers by a 52-28 margin and constantly buzzing around the Edmonton net generating chance after chance. And all day Smith was up to the task, turning aside 51 shots in what was not only his best performance of the season but probably one of the best games of his career.
For as many games as the Oilers have won so far this season they still have a lot of questions regarding their forward depth and their defense and even with Saturday’s win a lot of those issues were on display against the Penguins. If they keep playing like this they are going to need their goaltending to be nearly flawless for them to have a chance to maintain their early success. Fortunately for them Smith was able to give them that sort of performance on Saturday because anything less than that and this game could have easily had a very different result.
2. Leon Draisaitl is incredible. Draisaitl added to his league-leading point total by scoring the overtime winner, holding off Alex Galchenyuk and beating Penguins goalie Matt Murray to the far side. It ended an incredibly exciting back-and-forth overtime period that saw the two teams exchange prime scoring chances at both ends of the ice.
Draisaitl may not be on McDavid’s level as a player, but at this point it is starting to become impossible to argue that he is not one of the four or five best players in the world. After scoring 50 goals and 100 points a year ago, he is already up 13 goals and 26 points through the first 15 games this season and is well on his way to making a run at both numbers again this year. The Oilers still need to find some offense outside of him and McDavid, but those two guys are borderline unstoppable right now.
3. It was a quiet day for the Crosby-McDavid matchup. This was the first head-to-head matchup between Crosby and McDavid where neither player recorded a point, while they managed to combine for just five shots on goal.
The Penguins did a great job containing the McDavid-Draisaitl duo during regulation, attempting 25 of the 28 shot attempts when they were on the ice.
It is a testament to how great Smith was for the Oilers that they were able to get two points on what was such an off day for their top duo.
It also says a lot about Draisaitl that on a day where he and McDavid were mostly quiet he could still end up being one of the difference-makers in the game.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.