Penguins stuff Mcdavid, edge Oilers

Matt Murray robbed Connor Mcdavid on a penalty shot for one of his 38 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Wednesday.

Murray’s acrobatic stop on Mcdavid late in the second period protected a Pittsburgh lead, and the Penguins held on to sweep the season series.

Bryan Rust, Teddy Blueger and

Jared Mccann scored for the Penguins, who picked up two vital points despite playing without center Evgeni Malkin, forced to sit while serving a one-game suspension for an illegal high stick.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had one assist and spent large portions of the night going head to head with Mcdavid in front of the 559th straight sellout crowd at PPG Paints Arena.

Mcdavid assisted on Leon Draisaitl’s first-period goal but otherwise was held in check. Mikko Koskinen stopped 31 shots for the Oilers but couldn’t stop Edmonton from falling for the eighth time in nine games.

The Penguins entered play with a one-point lead over Carolina for the second wild-card spot in the jampacked Eastern Conference.

Mcdavid was awarded a penalty shot when Jake Guntzel hauled him down on a breakaway.

At Anaheim, Calif., Jakob Silfverberg scored in the first period to back Kevin Boyle, who stopped 35 shots in his first NHL start, as Anaheim halted a seven-game slide in general manager Bob Murray’s first game as interim coach.

Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves for Vancouver, which lost its fourth straight road game.

Murray, 64, never had coached professionally at any level before taking over Sunday when he fired Randy Carlyle.

Boyle, 26, an undrafted rookie, joined John Gibson as the second Ducks goalie to record a shutout in his first NHL start.

Silfverberg’s goal 6:30 into the first period gave Anaheim its first lead since getting the opening goal in a 5-1 loss at St. Louis on Jan. 23.