It was billed as a matchup between superstars, but neither Connor McDavid nor Sidney Crosby managed to find the scoresheet in the Edmonton Oilers’ clash with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Instead, Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for his fifth career shutout, and Viktor Arvidsson had a standout performance with three assists – his first points as an Oiler – as Edmonton ended a streak of two losses with a 4-0 victory against the Penguins.

“We played really well on both sides of the puck today for 60 minutes,” Arvidsson said. “I think it was a great statement play. I think that’s how we have to play and that’s how we’re going to be good.

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Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who was a teammate of Arvidsson’s in Nashville, said it was great to see him finally get some points.

“This is the Viktor I know,” he said. “He’s always the hardest working guy, he’ll beat you to the icing and he’s a pain in the ass to play against.” I thought he had a really big night.

“He feels more and more comfortable every night playing here and developing chemistry with his teammates and I think tonight he showed what he can really do.” Congratulations to him, he really played a solid night.

Ekholm and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist.

“I thought from start to finish we just played a really solid game,” Skinner said. “It obviously started with the D zone, and from there we were able to capitalize on some offense. And that’s normally how it starts for us, when we are solid in zone D, we give ourselves a lot of chances. In the first half I had five shots and it was all from the outside, so it’s just an incredible team effort.

Despite the defeat, Joel Blomqvist was very strong in front of the Penguins net, making 46 saves.

“He kept fighting, he saw some really good looks, some strange man races and I thought he held on and kept competing,” Crosby said. “They have dangerous shooters and he did a great job for us.”

Blomqvist was playing only his fifth NHL game.

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