3 least impressive Edmonton Oilers players from 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh Penguins feat. Stuart Skinner 

The Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins got together on Thursday night in Pittsburgh for a matchup between the current best duo in the National Hockey League and the duo that many once considered to hold that title.

Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisiatl faced off against Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but it was the older duo that ultimately emerged with the win.

The Penguins defeated the Oilers by a 5-3 final score at PPG Paints Arena, improving their record to 18-17-8 while the Oilers fell to 25-13-3.

The opening 20 minutes was nothing short of a scoring barrage by the host Penguins, who scored four times in just over 10 minutes of game time.

Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes and Drew O'Connor all tallied for the Penguins, while Draisaitl scored for the Oilers. Pittsburgh took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.

Just over five minutes into the game's middle frame, Crosby notched his 12th goal of the season and the 604th of his career to extend Pittsburgh's lead to 5-1. The Oilers managed to make the score closer thanks to the second goal of the game from Draisaitl followed by a power play goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

But they wouldn't come any closer. Pittsburgh held Edmonton off for the remainder of the contest, winning 5-3 in the end.

Alex Nedeljkovic had a solid game for the Penguins, stopping 39 shots; meanwhile, Stuart Skinner didn't fare as well, getting victimized five times on 26 shots.

3 least impressive Edmonton Oilers players from 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh Penguins

#1. Stuart Skinner

All of the good feelings that Skinner had been providing Oilers fans of late dissipated with his abysmal opening 20 minutes against the Penguins.

Allowing four goals in just over 10 minutes of game time would be enough to make any goaltender want to immediately hit the reset button, and it's what Skinner is going to have to do.

#2. Brett Kulak

Like many of his teammates, Kulak was routinely caught out of position and was behind the play in the opening 20 minutes, resulting in a barrage of offense for the Penguins.

While a handful of Oilers defensemen managed to finish the night with a positive plus-minus rating, Kulak wasn't one of them.

#3. Darnell Nurse

Another Oilers defenseman who had a rough outing was Nurse. Like Kulak, he had a particularly rough opening 20 minutes against the Penguins and finished with a -2 rating.

Both Kulak and Nurse had subpar performances, something they'll both have to clean up in a hurry.

McDavid and Co. will look to bounce back when they face the Chicago Blackhawks next at United Center on Saturday.