EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins played a boring game, much to the delight of ailing coach Herb Brooks.

German Titov scored a power-play goal and set up Jiri Slegr for the game-winner as the Pittsburgh Penguins halted a six-game winless streak Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Brooks was forced to watch the game from the press box because of back spasms. Former Czech national team coach Ivan Hlinka, recently hired as an assistant, took his place behind the bench.

"We had to play a pretty smart road game," Brooks said. "At times we tried to bore them and take some of their speed away."

Oilers goalie Tommy Salo had a tough night as two of Pittsburgh's goals came from bad angles that banked in off of him.

"We've been trying to paint a Sistine Chapel when we should get someone to paint a couple of garages," Brooks said.

The Penguins also were coming off their worst loss of the season -- an 8-2 drubbing by the Calgary Flames.

"That team was so ripe, it's really unfortunate," Edmonton head coach Kevin Lowe said.

"Once again, we had a very bad start and it's not good that we let them score a couple of goals before we come back," said forward Georges Laraque, who scored the Oilers' first goal.

Titov had to be helped off the ice early in the third period after taking a vicious check from Janne Niinimaa. The Edmonton defenseman was assessed a five-minute boarding major and game misconduct.

"We also had a lot of penalties tonight," Laraque said. "It's hard to play and win when the other team has the advantage for the whole game. If we had played (hard for) 60 minutes, we could have won. A couple of goals shouldn't kill us."

Penguins right-wing Aleksey Morozov opened the scoring 5:25 in by sending a shot in off of Salo from behind the goal line.

Laraque tied it when he lifted a shot past Jean-Sebastien Aubin with 21 seconds left in the first.

The Oilers were outshot 12-8 in the second, during which Titov and Slegr gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead.

The Penguins held off a late charge by the Oilers that was sparked by Edmonton forward Alex Selivanov, who redirected a Josef Beranek pass on a power play at 12:32 of the third for his 21st goal.

Pittsburgh played without captain Jaromir Jagr, out with hamstring and thigh injuries. The Penguins are 2-6-3 without Jagr this season.