Two struggling teams looking to change their fortunes will clash when the Edmonton Oilers play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
Both the Oilers and Penguins are trying to bounce back from embarrassing overtime upsets in their last outing.
The Penguins were coming off a late lead in the final minute of regulation in a 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, while the Oilers squandered two third-period goals in a 3-2 overtime loss. Carolina Hurricanes that night.
Edmonton, who came into this season with high hopes after reaching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, has only won twice in seven games and is the owner of the third worst goal in the NHL (minus-13).
Despite the struggles, the message is to stay calm. After all, this is a team that rose to fame last season before their fortunes changed.
“I have complete confidence in our team,” said defender Mattias Ekholm. “I know it’s still early in the year and it’s a matter of getting it right, and I didn’t expect everyone to shoot where we finished or anything. It’s going to take a little time, but I like our team. And I think we’re on the right track.”
The Oilers struggle surprisingly with the man advantage. Their power play has scored just two goals this season (2-for-19) and is tied for 27th in the league at 10.5 percent, and personnel changes have been attempted over the past few practices.
“With the way their season has gone, there are many things that need to be fixed: playing with intensity, killing penalties, scoring goals,” said coach Kris Knoblauch. “(The power play) was another thing I didn’t expect us to have a problem with.”
The Penguins, winless in three games, have their own concerns, having opened a four-game losing streak. However, they had every chance to win in Calgary.
“Obviously there’s room for improvement, but I think we’ve been a lot better than we’ve been in recent games,” forward Bryan Rust said. “We didn’t have as many problems as we did in the last three or four games, whatever it was. So, I think we’re winning.”
Although the Penguins squandered a third-period lead, they held the momentum for most of the contest, especially the third period. They just couldn’t get an insurance goal while outrebounding the Flames 38-25 in overtime, or shootout wins.
“We had that five-on-five mindset — get in there and finish them off, get the puck out of the corner — and score,” Rust said. “I think we needed a little more of that. It wasn’t as consistent as we would have liked. … It’s still a work in progress, but I think the goals are there. I think we’re trying to play at a faster pace. We’re trying to get things going the right way.
That said, the Penguins have an obvious issue to address. No team scored more goals than Pittsburgh, and although goalkeeper Alex Nedeljkovic showed in the last game that he could be the one to strengthen that gap, he could not hold the fort until the end.
“I’ve got to do a better job of staying with the pucks and just recovering,” Nedeljkovic said. “I mean, it wasn’t a very difficult shot (on Nazem Kadri’s recent game-tying goal). It wasn’t a hard or well-placed shot. It was the puck on the net, not much else.”
–Field Level Media
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