EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Penguins could toss out the first two periods of their game against Edmonton last night.

In fact, that's pretty much what they did.

They erased a two-goal deficit in the third period for a 3-2 win against the Oilers at Rexall Place, but the turnaround started with the players at a place not seen by the public.

"In the [locker] room. Second intermission," said winger Pascal Dupius, who got the winning goal at 10:30 of the third period when a pass from behind the net by Jordan Staal glanced into the net off Dupuis' right shin pad.

"Some guys talked. We stayed positive, and there was stuff that needed to be said. We said it in a positive way. You've got a guy like [39-year-old winger] Billy Guerin that's getting up in the room and saying the right things, guys are following."

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury held the fort, making some strong saves in the first two periods but reserving the biggest stop among his 33 in the first minute of the third period.

With the teams playing four on four, Edmonton's Dustin Penner bore down on Fleury on a breakaway. The goalie sprawled to his left to make a poke check and prevent his team from falling into a 3-0 hole.

"No one really played well, to be honest [except] Fleury -- he's always good though -- the first two periods," said Staal, who assisted on all three of his team's goals. "We just shook it off and said we've got to change it in the third."

It's one way to win -- and do it against a team that is now 1-12-1 in its past 14 games -- but it's not a blueprint the Penguins want to hang on the wall.

"It's definitely not a good thing," Staal said of the slow start. "We've got to be a team that comes out strong the first period every time. We haven't been doing that as of late, and it's been catching up to us. We can't do this every night. It's something we've got to look into."

They can look to Fleury, especially lately. He played his second good game in as many nights -- he was a key in a 3-1 victory Wednesday at Calgary -- and did it for more than half the game with an injured left ring finger after a slap shot by the Oilers' Ryan Potulny caught him on an unprotected part of his glove hand.

"Tonight wasn't easy," Fleury said. "They gave us a good challenge. Maybe we weren't playing our best hockey in the first two [periods], but in the third guys played very well, played very hard, and we got three goals out of it."

The Oilers got both of their goals on the power play.

The first came in a five-on-three. The Penguins got 1:34 into the two minutes of being shorthanded before Andrew Cogliano, parked to the right of the net, took a pass across from Patrick O'Sullivan, who was at the bottom of the opposite circle. Fleury slid to his left to make a toe save on Cogliano, but Cogliano got his own rebound and lifted it into the net for a 1-0 Edmonton lead.

Edmonton added a second power-play goal, this one five-on-four, at 11:53 of the second period, on Lubomir Visnovsky's shot from the center point that dipped under Fleury's glove for a 2-0 Oilers lead.

Fleury might have helped spark his team in advance of its locker room chat with 24.5 seconds left in the second period. Edmonton's Robert Nilsson drove the net and bowled over Fleury, knocking off the net and ending up inside it. Fleury turned and jumped on Nilsson.

"I've been run over a couple times, and today -- I don't know why -- I decided that it's enough," Fleury said. "Make them think next time maybe."

Nilsson drew a goaltender interference penalty, and Fleury a roughing call, leaving the teams at four skaters a side.

When the four-on-four play resumed in the third period, Fleury made the big poke-check save on Penner.

At 3:18 of the third period, Tyler Kennedy broke up rookie Devan Dubnyk's shutout attempt and cut Edmonton's lead to 2-1 when he ripped a shot from the right dot that went in off the goaltender.

It was Kennedy's second goal in as many games.

The Penguins' second power-play unit got the tying goal at 6:48 of the third period. Staal rang a shot off the right post, and Matt Cooke got the rebound and backhanded it past Dubnyk to make it 2-2.

By overcoming the slow start, the Penguins improved to 3-1 on a season-long five-game trip that concludes tomorrow at Vancouver. Coming into the trip, they were 1-6 in their previous seven games.

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