It only took three minutes for Rickard Rakell to give Pittsburgh the lead. He was close to the goal when his Swedish teammate Marcus Pettersson - via American Bryan Rust - served the puck, and Rakell managed to get around Edmonton goalkeeper Stuart Skinner.
Four minutes later, Marcus Pettersson was credited with another assist when Pittsburgh pulled away with 2–0. Despite the visitors reducing the lead, the home team Pittsburgh managed to hold on, and Smålander Erik Karlsson was credited with an assist on Pittsburgh's 5–1 goal.
We got a good start. The first period may have been one of the best we've played all season, says Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan to reporters after the game.
The opposing team also got Swedish points. Edmonton scored two more goals in the end of the second period - including one thanks to an assist from Borlänge native Mattias Ekholm - but it wasn't enough.
Ekholm is disappointed with how Edmonton played in the first period.
Obviously, it wasn't the start we wanted. Then it's just a matter of looking forward, you can't do much about the past, he says.
I think we did better in the second period, we narrowed the gap a bit. But in the end, we couldn't dig ourselves out of such a big hole.
Pittsburgh won the game 5–3.
