Edmonton @ Pittsburgh preview
PPG Paints Arena
Last Meeting ( Mar 3, 2024 ) Pittsburgh 1, Edmonton 6
After two straight losses, the Edmonton Oilers might be looking forward a little more than usual to playing the host Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
Edmonton fell 3-2 in a shootout Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, a team out of the playoff picture. Prior to that, the Oilers fell 4-2 Thursday to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are tied for last in the Eastern Conference, but they got by the Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday.
So why might Edmonton look to a game against Pittsburgh to get things back on track in a quest to secure second place in the Pacific Division?
Well, last Sunday the Oilers spanked the Penguins 6-1 at home in what was the fourth win in a stretch of five in a row. So a rematch with Pittsburgh surely couldn't hurt.
Especially after the way the loss in Buffalo went down. The Oilers blew a two-goal lead, thought they had lost with two seconds left in overtime before it was ruled the Sabres were offside and players had to scramble back from the locker room, and ultimately lost in a shootout.
"Frustrating for sure," Edmonton forward Warren Foegele said. "Frustrating when you have that lead and you don't come out with the win, but the good thing is we have a game (Sunday)."
Edmonton captain Connor McDavid had his 14-game point streak halted. He had two goals and 27 assists (29 points) during the streak and, overall, ranks third in the NHL with 100 points.
Pittsburgh has experienced a good dose of frustration, too, but not based on one game.
The Penguins fell 5-1 Saturday at Boston and are 1-5-0 in their past six games.
Pittsburgh has fallen to where it will be extremely difficult to get into the playoffs. The Penguins also find themselves in unfamiliar territory, but not in a good way.
After making the playoffs for 16 straight seasons, with three Stanley Cup wins in that stretch, they are staring hard at a second straight spring without a spot in the postseason.
They are eight points away from tying for the second wild card in the East but would need to leapfrog four teams ahead of them.
Pittsburgh also for the first time since star captain Sidney Crosby's rookie season of 2005-06 found itself in a spot to be a seller leading up to Friday's league trade deadline.
Late Thursday, the Penguins traded popular and prolific winger Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes after he had established himself as a strong fit alongside Crosby.
Pittsburgh was emotionally flat that night, falling 6-0 to the Washington Capitals. That led to the team's other star center, Evgeni Malkin, sending a heartfelt message to the faithful.
"I want to say sorry to (the) fans because they paid (for) tickets," Malkin said. "They came to the rink. And they see this game. It's not great. We need to play harder for sure."
Instead, the Penguins endured another lopsided loss.
Crosby, who leads his team with 64 points, had an assist Saturday but that was just his second point, both assists, over the past six games.
So while a Pittsburgh-Edmonton game normally might spotlight a McDavid-Crosby matchup, the Penguins instead are looking for any sort of spark or meaning going into the final month of the season.
"It's a lot of work to get (to the playoffs). You can't grab all those points at once," Crosby said. "We've got to be ready to compete, find a way to get the next one, and build off that."
--Field Level Media