With just three wins in 10 games to start the season, it’s no surprise to see the Edmonton Oilers at -11 in their goal differential.
On Wednesday night, the Oilers face the 7-5-1 Pittsburgh Penguins, who are at -14 despite having a winning record. The Pens have been shelled three times already, losing 7-1 to Winnipeg on Sunday, 7-1 to Tampa Bay on Oct. 21 and 10-1 to Chicago on Oct. 5. Pittsburgh doesn’t have a single player who is positive when it comes to plus/minus.
“If you take the few games where we’ve been blown out, it tends to skew that statistic.,” said Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. “If you take those games away, the story is different. But having said that, those are part of our schedule.
“We look at a lot of statistics. We don’t look at any one and try to draw a conclusion. I think that’s a foolish way to approach our job if we did.”
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The Oilers are looking for a spark after losing 5-2 to Washington on Saturday. The Oilers have been tied after two periods in their last five outings but have only two wins to show for those close contests.
“We have to find a way to get some timely scoring,” Connor McDavid said. “Look at last game, we’re right in it, then give up an early third period goal and next thing you know you’re behind the eight ball. Teams are so good at clogging it up and closing out games now, if you’re down in the third period it makes it hard to come back.”
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The Oilers were in Pittsburgh last Tuesday. Phil Kessel scored in overtime to give the Penguins a 2-1 win.
Catch the Oilers and Penguins on 630 CHED Wednesday night with the Face-off Show at 5 p.m. The game will start at 6:30 p.m.