WHAT HAPPENED
For those of you who couldn't stay awake, here's what you missed: Pittsburgh saw their 19-game unbeaten streak versus Edmonton (15-0-4) come to an end on Wednesday at Rogers Place as the Oilers skated to a 5-2 win.
Jake Guentzel and Teddy Blueger scored for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry gave up more than two goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 14 at Washington (and there wasn't much he could do on any of them) to see his personal unbeaten streak end at 5-0-1.
Penguins Fall to Opportunistic Oilers
Pittsburgh was very effective for much of the game, but Edmonton capitalized on some breakdowns to get a 5-2 win
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OVERALL ASSESSMENT
The Penguins are at their best when they control territory and possess the puck, forcing teams to expend energy defending them. That's part of their identity and a big key against any opponent, but especially the Oilers, considering they have the most dynamic offensive duo in the league with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, along with several other weapons.
And that's how they played for much of the first two periods, outshooting the Oilers 26-12 with the teams tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. One prime example of that came during the middle frame, where the line of Dominik Simon, Sam Lafferty and Danton Heinen played in Edmonton's zone for a long stretch, allowing Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Evan Rodrigues to build on that. The Penguins ultimately came out of it with a power play after the Oilers cleared the puck.
"We were very effective for a good part of the game," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought for the first two periods we did a great job with our energy and trying to dictate the terms out there. We could have made better decisions with the puck, and not feed their transition game."
Unfortunately, that's what the Penguins did in the third, as Sullivan said they weren't able to sustain their momentum from the first two periods and had some breakdowns in their game. As a result, Edmonton earned their NHL-leading 10th win when being outshot (34-22), as they are just such so skilled and dynamic offensively that they don't need much to make their opponents pay.
"Just make a few mistakes and it ends up in the back of your net," Crosby said. "We had some good pressure, some good zone time for most of the night. You give them any opening and they take advantage of it. … It's a fine line. We did a lot of good things tonight. It's too bad we had a couple of those pucks that end up going for 2-on-1s. Sometimes they miss the net or puck hits something, but they executed really well and made the most of them."
Blueger said from there, the Penguins could never really find their way back into it. But they'll be looking to get back in the win column on Saturday in Vancouver.
OTHER THOUGHTS, MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
- CONNOR MCJESUS
Connor McDavid certainly did not disappoint in our first time seeing the generational talent in almost two years. He scored an empty-netter goal, earned three primary assists (and nearly had a fourth, but Zach Hyman was denied of his first career hat trick after the play was determined to be offsides) and finished with a plus-5 rating.
"He's just so good at creating something from nothing. It's not like there's a lot of danger going on, then all of a sudden he's on a 2-on-1 or he's on a fast break," said the Penguins captain, the other generational talent on the ice, who got a helper on Guentzel's goal. "It's a pretty small margin for error."
I think Sullivan said it best this morning in regards to McDavid when he commented, "we don't get a chance to see him very often. Maybe that's a good thing from our standpoint. But he sure is exciting to watch."
- GUENTZEL STAYS HOT
The Jake Shakes just keep flowing as the points continue to pile up for Guentzel. The 27-year-old winger is on an amazing run, as he extended his career-long point streak to 11 games with his goal tonight. His previous personal best was seven games, set twice before.
Guentzel has collected seven goals and 12 points over this current span, which is the longest active streak in the NHL. The last time a Penguins player recorded a longer point streak was in 2015-16, when Sidney Crosby had a 12-game stretch. Stretching back further, in the past 20 years, Guentzel joins Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Mario Lemieux, Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal and Alex Kovalev as the only Penguins to record 10-plus game point streaks.
In addition to this overall point streak, Guentzel also extended his season-opening road point streak to 10 games, one shy of the longest in franchise history held by Malkin (11 GP in 2008-09).
- NHL'S NO. 1 SPECIAL TEAMS UNITS GO HEAD-TO-HEAD
There was certainly no shortage of storylines in this game. In addition to the generational talents going head-to-head, another one was the NHL's top-ranked special teams units going head-to-head.
Edmonton had been clicking at a 37.7% success rate on the man-advantage coming into tonight, converting 23 of 61 attempts. "They just have so many weapons," Sullivan said before the game. "It's hard to key on any one particular aspect of their power play. It's a big part of their offense. They're averaging over a point per game there. So we've got a big test for our kill."
Conversely, it was a big test for the Oilers' power play, as Pittsburgh's penalty kill is No. 1 in the league. And they showed why in this game, thwarting all three of Edmonton's attempts. Jeff Carter played a big role in that, as he went 3-for-3 in the dot to help the Penguins win four of five shorthanded draws during the first two kills, which put them in great positions to get clears.
Pittsburgh's defensemen also sacrificed the body - notably Chad Ruhwedel, Kris Letang and John Marino - while Jarry continued to stay strong as the last line of defense.
"It's a team effort," Marino said. "Everyone contributes. The forwards are aggressive on them. Blocking shots, doing all the little things. Then obviously Jars making some big saves out there."
