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Pittsburgh Penguins (4-1-0) vs. Edmonton Oilers (1-4-0) 7:00 PM at Consol Energy Center
The Edmonton Oilers are limping into Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins tonight. The Oilers were hoping that this was the season they would take their next step and make the playoffs. So far they are not on track for that to happen.
The game tonight will not be short on high end skill, it will feature 5 former #1 draft picks (Crosby, Fleury, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, and potentially Yakupov). It will also feature other first round picks such as Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Eberle, Olli Maatta, Brooks Orpik, Brandon Sutter, Matt Niskanen, Ales Hemsky, Ryan Smyth, David Perron, Ben Eager, Boyd Gordon, Ladislav Smid, and Devan Dubnyk.
There have been times when the Penguins and Oilers franchises have had been compared to one another and both times I believe the comparison has been incorrect. The first was when Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were still getting their feet wet in the NHL. People wanted to compare the Penguins to the beginning stages of the 1980’s Oilers dynasty. This was an unfair comparison and one that the Penguins could never possibly live up to. The fact that the Gretzky led Oilers dynasty might be the pinnacle of hockey and the fact that there is a salary cap in place made for unattainable aspirations. The Penguins have been successful and exciting to watch but not at the same level of those Oiler teams.
The next comparison came when the Oilers started to acquire a lot of top picks in a short period of time much like the mid 2000’s Penguins did. The thought was that the Penguins lucked themselves into success, now it’s the Oilers turn. It is factual that the Penguins were lucky to get both Crosby and Malkin, but it is not factual to say that is all it took for the Penguins to become a perennial playoff threat. It is also factual that the Oilers did not have the opportunity to select a Crosby or Malkin with their picks. Timing is everything sometimes.
The biggest difference in the Penguins and Oilers is that the Penguins chose to fire their long time Stanley Cup winning general manager Craig Patrick in an effort to take a new direction with the franchise and hired upstart GM prospect Ray Shero. The Oilers have stayed true to the same management group and still employ Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish. They also elected to bring back former assistant GM and failed Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson. Same people, same results.
The Oilers have been a team in the desert who have just come upon an oasis (top draft picks) but instead of utilizing such a prized resource they decided to hook up a slip and slide for fun. The Oilers management team has had no problem making the sexy picks with their top draft picks, namely Nail Yakupov, but this isn’t the 80’s and the Oiler’s young forward core can’t outgun their defensive shortcomings.
Where Ray Shero went for a shutdown defensive player like Jordan Staal, the Oilers went for a flashy player that was furthest from what they actually needed in Yakupov. The Oilers added Yakupov to a cast of players that already included Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Hemsky, and Gagner.
Currently the Oilers are now left in a similar dilemma as the Penguins chief rival, the Philadelphia Flyers. Extremely top heavy in the forward ranks, not a good bottom 6, defense corp. that has way more questions than answers, and patchwork goaltending.
Another similarity that the Oilers and Flyers both share is that Chris Pronger was able to take them to the Stanley Cup Final, only to see each team tumble with his absence.
The Oilers management team is going to have to figure out how to properly construct their roster so that the Oilers can take the same leap from the basement that the Penguins have. They are going to have to make some tough decisions and that will more than likely include moving one of their recent 1st round selections.
More importantly, but not realistically, they should get new people to make the tough decisions. The status quo won’t cut it.
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Here are some team stats from this young season for both the Penguins and the Oilers:
The Oilers currently have a -10 goal differential through their first 6 games only the New York Rangers (-16) and the Florida Panthers (-11) have a worse differential. The Penguins have a +7 differential. The good news for the Oilers is that the Panthers were able to defeat the Penguins 6-3 in spite of their bad goal differential.
The penalty killing for both teams has left a little bit to be desired so far this season. The Oilers are currently ranked 28th with a 66.7% success rate. Only Anaheim and Chicago are worse at 64.3%. The Penguins are not much better as they are 23rd overall with a 73.3% success rate.
Given the current state of each team’s PK it would be wise for them to stay away from both team’s power plays. The Penguins are currently 3rd overall in the NHL with a power play clicking at 35.7%. The Oilers are 15th overall with a very respectable 21.7% conversion rate.
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Part of the reason for the Oilers struggles this year have come from the goal crease. Devan Dubnyk has not gotten the job done and Jason LaBarbera has not been much better.
As a team, the Oilers even strength save percentage is dead last in the NHL with .862%. A team cannot survive no matter how talented they are if they are floating out a percentage like that.
Dubynyk’s EVSV% is a woeful .833% and while LaBarbera is slightly better his .909% is not very good either.
For the Penguins they rank 24th overall in EVSV% with .908%. Jeff Zatkoff’s first career NHL start is a prime reason for their percentage being so low. Marc Andre Fleury’s EVSV is a very good .938% while Zatkoff’s is .840%.
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On the injury front John Toperzer is reporting that a trusted source has told him that Neal has a torn muscle around the rib cage area and won’t be back for a while. John has picked up writing again and you can find his work
here.
Kris Letang took part in the Penguins practice yesterday for a scheduled 30 minutes.
Rob Rossi is reporting that Kris Letang still is not cleared to play in game action yet for the Penguins. He had this quote from Dan Bylsma:
“Kris is still in the process of getting back to playing, and this was another step. He needs to continue to progress to move toward a game.”
Letang skated before the morning skate today and was the first skater on the ice for the Penguins morning skate. However, he was skating with Deryk Engelland and that is a pretty good sign he will not be debuting tonight.
Given the quality play of Maatta and Niskanen’s ability to step in, and the 4-1 start to the year, there is no sense in rushing back the Norris Trophy nominee.
Beau Bennett is day to day with his lower body injury and Dan Bylsma has stated that Chuck Kobasew will bump up into the right wing slot for Bennett. That leaves a bottom 6 position open and the Penguins have elected to fill that spot with Harry Zolnierczyk. To make room for Zolnierczyk the Penguins have put James Neal on the IR. Beau Bennett was not on the ice for the morning skate and will not play against the Oilers.
Zolnierczyk has 3 goals in 3 games with the Baby Penguins so far this year.
The Penguins lines at the morning skate are as follows:
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Jokinen-Malkin-Kobasew
Jeffrey-Sutter-Zolnierczyk
Glass-Vitale-Adams
Orpik-Martin
Scuderi-Niskanen
Maatta-Bortuzzo
Engelland-Letang
The power play units:
Kunitz-Crosby-Malkin
Niskanen-Martin
Dupuis-Sutter-Jokinen
Jeffrey-Maatta
Marc Andre Fleury will get the start in goal.
Nail Yakupov will be re-inserted into the Oilers lineup tonight per Head Coach Dallas Eakins.
Regardless of the Oilers record they have some of the more entertaining players to watch in the NHL, it should be a real treat to see them play against the Penguins tonight.
Updates throughout the day
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