Penguins blasted by Oilers in 3rd consecutive loss
The Pittsburgh Penguins concluded their four-game road trip through Western Canada and Seattle on Sunday with a lopsided 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Finishing the trip with a 1-3-0 record — with all three losses coming in consecutive games — the Penguins’ record dropped to 27-23-8 – equating to 62 points – and sunk their already fading hopes of qualifying for the postseason even further.
Sunday’s loss came less than 24 hours after a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames. In that contest, the Penguins surrendered a pair of two-goal leads before giving up the winning score late in regulation.
“We had a tough loss (in Calgary) and I don’t know if we did a good enough job of just moving by it,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said to the Canadian Press service in Edmonton. “I think that you’ve got to find a way even when it’s one like that, to move by it. We probably didn’t do a good enough job.”
In addition to giving up a touchdown’s worth of goals on Sunday, the Penguins saw forward Jansen Harkins leave the game at 17:05 of the second period. According to the the team’s X account, coach Mike Sullivan told media in Edmonton that the fourth-line winger was being evalauted for an undisclosed injury.
Oilers forward Zach Hyman opened the scoring with his 41st goal of the season 14:07 into regulation.
After Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was unable to keep a puck in the offensive zone at the right point, Oilers forward Connor McDavid took possession and initiated a two-on-one rush with Hyman against defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, McDavid released a wrister from the left circle to the far side as Pettersson slid down to take away a pass. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made the initial save with his left leg but couldn’t smother the rebound. Hyman crashed in from the right of the crease and backhanded the puck through Nedeljkovic’s five hole. McDavid, a former Erie Otters star, and forward Leon Draisaitl had assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
The hosts went up 2-0 2:57 into the second period via forward Corey Perry’s ninth goal.
Following a bad connection on a pass attempt between Penguins forwards Rickard Rakell and Drew O’Connor out of the right corner of the offensive zone, Oilers forward Warren Foegele banked the puck off the near boards and into the neutral zone past pinching defenseman P.O Joseph. That served as a breakout pass for Perry, who initiated a three-on-one rush with linemate Ryan McLeod and former Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci against defenseman Kris Letang. Taking a pass from Perry, McLeod gained the Penguins’ zone on the left wing, allowed Letang to slide to his knees and slipped a pass from low in the left circle to the right side of the crease where Perry tapped in a forehand shot by Nedeljkovic’s left skate. McLeod and Foegel registered assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
Hyman scored again at 5:55 of the second frame to put the Oilers up by a field goal.
Draisaitl muscled a faceoff win in the Penguins’ left circle against forward Noel Acciari and allowed Hyman, stationed along the near boards, to backhand the puck to the left point for defenseman Evan Bouchard. Surveying for a moment, Bouchard fired a clever pass to the lower right hashmark where Draisaitl one-touched a pass attempt that bounced off the left skate of Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and deflected to the right of the crease. Surging through a hooking attempt by Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves in the left circle, Hyman took advantage of the fortunate bounce and lifted a forehand shot over the right leg of an outstretched Nedeljkovic. Assists went to Draisaitl and Bouchard.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
Harkins had a chance to get his first goal of the season – to say nothing of his team’s first goal of this contest – at 17:05 of the second period with a penalty shot but was unable to complete the task – or put the puck on net – as his wrister from below the hashmarks went wide to the left of the cage.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
He departed the contest after missing the shot.
The Oilers found a way to put another puck in the Penguins’ net 102 seconds later when McLeod scored his 10th goal.
Off some strong perimeter passing around the Penguins’ zone, Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak accepted the puck at the left point and fed it low in the right circle for McLeod. As Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin sprinted over to provide resistance, McLeod lifted a wrister that clunked off Nedeljkovic’s right shoulder and slipped inside the near post. Kulak and forward Evander Kane had assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
Ceci’s second goal of the season came in the last minute of the second period at the 19:10 mark.
Pinching in deep on the left wing of the offensive zone, Kulak won a one-on-one battle with Karlsson and backhanded the puck to the near corner boards for Foegele. Maneuvering his way behind the cage, Foegele identified Ceci charging in from the right point and fed a pass to the right circle. From just above the right dot, Ceci stopped the puck and then swiped a wrister to the far side past the right shoulder of a flustered Nedeljkovic. Foegele and Kulak claimed assists.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
McDavid amplified the rout with his 23rd goal 6:03 into the third period.
Deking past a flatfooted Acciari at the Penguins’ blue line, Draisaitl fired a heavy wrister from above the left circle that Nedeljkovic fought off with his left leg. A juicy rebound trickled to the right circle where McDavid – who no member of the Penguins on the ice thought enough to cover – was able to easily clean up with a forehand shot. Assists went to Draisaitl and defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) March 4, 2024
Malkin ruined the Oilers’ aspirations for a shutout by scoring his 17th goal of the season – and first since Jan. 26 – at 12:23.
After Penguins forward Rickard Rakell missed wildly with a one-timer from the left circle of the offensive zone, linemate Reilly Smith outbattled Kulak and Ceci behind the cage for the rebound and wound up batting it into the air and to the front of the crease where Malkin was hovering. As the puck returned to the earth, Malkin jabbed it by goaltender Calvin Pickard’s glove. It was Malkin’s first goal in 13 games. Smith and Rakell registered assists.
Tonight's silver lining. pic.twitter.com/iBWvowfitL
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 4, 2024
Nedeljkovic’s record fell to 9-5-4 after he made 31 saves on 37 shots.
“It’s tough right now, it really stinks right now,” Pettersson said to the Canadian Press. “It’s a really gut-wrenching feeling in here, but we’ve talked about it enough that we can’t really feel sorry for ourselves. We’re still in the hunt somehow and we have to look at it that way.”
Notes:
• The Penguins have lost five consecutive games against the Oilers (0-5-0). Their only longer active losing streak against any one opponent is against the New Jersey Devils at six games (0-5-1).
• Harkins had only the second penalty shot attempted in franchise history against the Oilers. Forward Mario Lemieux was denied by goaltender Bill Ranford during a 6-5 home win for the Penguins at the Civic Arena on March 17, 1992.
(Note: That was the first unsuccessful penalty shot of Lemieux’s career. Before that, he had scored on his first five attempts.)
• Rakell (99 points) surpassed forward German Titov for 95th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
• Penguins forwards Matthew Phillips, Jesse Puljujarvi and defenseman John Ludvig were healthy scratches.
• Puljujarvi was the fourth overall selection in the 2016 NHL draft by the Oilers.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.