Penguins at Oilers
The Pittsburgh Penguins have long been known for their scoring prowess, making their current offensive issues quite puzzling. Pittsburgh looks to end a string of five straight games with fewer than three goals when it continues its five-game road trip Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers.
The Penguins have lost the first two games of the trek and dropped three in a row on the road, scoring one goal in each of the setbacks. They posted a pair of overtime home victories in between, with both contests ending in 2-1 decisions. One of those triumphs came last Tuesday against Edmonton, which is in the middle of a five-game homestand on which it split the first two contests. The Oilers edged Dallas 5-4 on Thursday before dropping a 5-2 decision to Washington two days later for their fourth setback in six home games.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, Sportsnet One, TVA (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (7-5-1): Pittsburgh has been outscored 9-2 over the first two games of its road trip, with Evgeni Malkin scoring in each of the setbacks. The 31-year-old Russian, who is a two-time Art Ross Trophy winner, is tied with captain Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary for the team lead in goals (five) and even with Phil Kessel for tops on the club in points (13). Malkin has collected four tallies and nine points over his last seven contests.
ABOUT THE OILERS (3-6-1): Connor McDavid leads the team with five goals but has yet to score on the power play, where Edmonton is 4-for-33 on the season. The Oilers' special teams could use plenty of improvement, as they are tied with Anaheim for 29th in the league with a 12.1 percent success rate with the man advantage while ranking 30th on the penalty kill (70.3 percent). Patrick Maroon is riding a five-game point streak during which he has registered four goals and an assist.
OVERTIME
1. All 22 players who have skated for the Penguins this season have a negative plus/minus rating, with D Kris Letang being worst at minus-14.
2. Edmonton is 0-for-12 on the power play over its last four contests.
3. Pittsburgh recalled Tristan Jarry from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and assigned fellow G Casey DeSmith to the American Hockey League club.