Penguins at Oilers
The Pittsburgh Penguins have run roughshod over Western Conference representatives this season, posting a spectacular 13-3-1 record to help them remain in the thick of the action in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins, however, look to avenge a rare setback in that sequence when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.
Bryan Rust extended his point streak to four games (four goals, three assists) by collecting a goal and an assist on Tuesday as Pittsburgh won its third straight and sixth in seven outings with a 4-1 victory over Calgary. The 27-year-old also notched an assist on defenseman Brian Dumoulin's short-handed goal before the Penguins saw their six-game winning streak over Edmonton come to a halt with a 2-1 overtime loss on Nov. 2. Leon Draisaitl scored 2:37 into the extra session in that contest and boosted his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists) by setting up James Neal's third-period goal in Wednesday's 2-1 setback in St. Louis. "It was a little disappointing we couldn't find a way to manufacture a little more offense," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said after the team lost for the fifth time in six games (1-4-1).
TV: 9 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet Pacific, TVAS (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (20-10-4): Evgeni Malkin scored into an empty net on Tuesday to become the fourth player in franchise history to reach the 400-goal plateau, joining Mario Lemieux (690), Sidney Crosby (451) and Jaromir Jagr (439). "Those are special names," the 33-year-old Malkin said. "They're legends. I want to be top, too. I want to play my top-level game. I feel it right now. I hope I play five, six more years with the Penguins and we'll see. To be with Jagr, Lemieux, Crosby is amazing." Malkin joined Alex Ovechkin as members of the same draft class (2004) to have a pair of 400-goal scorers, with the pair joining Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne (1971), Pierre Turgeon and Brendan Shanahan (1987) and Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau (1997).
ABOUT THE OILERS (19-14-4): Edmonton experienced a rarity as it was unable to squeeze any juice out of four power-play opportunities on Wednesday, resulting in the end of a sterling stretch with the man advantage. The Oilers' top-ranked power play had converted at least once in each of the previous eight games and was 10-for-30 overall in that stretch. Captain Connor McDavid and Draisaitl have been key cogs when Edmonton enjoys the man advantage, with the former collecting 26 of his NHL-best 59 points on the power play while the latter has 24 of his 58.
OVERTIME
1. Edmonton sports a 9-5-1 record versus Eastern Conference foes and a sizzling 8-1-0 mark against Metropolitan representatives.
2. Pittsburgh G Tristan Jarry has turned aside 171 of 179 shots this month to improve his NHL-best totals in goals-against average (1.85) and save percentage (.940).
3. Oilers G Mikko Koskinen answered a dismal six-goal effort in a loss to Carolina on Dec. 10 by allowing six goals on 110 shots over his last three games (1-2-0).