Penguins @ Oilers
Rogers Place | Edmonton, AB
9:00PM Eastern | ESPN+ | AT&TSN-PT
The Penguins continue their swing through Western Canada as they head to the house that McDavid built to take on Connor, Leon, and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers.
The Penguins got a big win against the Flames on Tuesday night, winning a game much closer than the 4-1 final score would indicate. Despite missing practice with an illness on Tuesday, Bryan Rust picked up what became the game-winning goal before Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang added empty netters to pad the margin.
The injury train continues, though.
Schultz will be week-to-week with a lower-body injury, per HC Sullivan #pens -SK
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) December 19, 2019
The Penguins have recalled defenseman Kevin Czuczman and forward Thomas Di Pauli from the @WBSPenguins.
Di Pauli will be looking to make his NHL debut, while Czuczman will look to make his Penguins' debut.
Full details: https://t.co/h275TilnCQ pic.twitter.com/kiN71Pv0x7
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 20, 2019
Guentzel – Malkin – Rust
ZAR – McCann – Kahun
Simon – Blueger – Tanev
Galchenyuk – Blandisi – Lafferty
Johnson – Letang
Pettersson – Marino
Riikola – Ruhwedel
Jarry
The Oilers bring a 19-14-4 record into tonight’s contest, sitting in third in the Pacific Division with 42 points, just two points back of Arizona and Vegas for the divisional lead.
They’re led, obviously, by Connor McDavid’s 59 points (20G+39A) and Leon Draisaitl ain’t far behind with 58 of his own (21G+37A).
The Oilers’ Power Play is positively lethal, converting 30.3% of opportunities given. The Penguins will do well to stay out of the box. Their penalty kill is 4th in the league at 85.0% success.
The special teams index is probably a big part of what has kept the Oilers near the top of the division, quite frankly, as they are among the league’s worst teams at generating shots on goal (27th at 29.2 shots per game). Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have the modern-day Crosby+Malkin combination pouring over the boards on 50+% of your shifts, either.
Veteran Mike Smith tends the twine for the Oil; in 18 appearances this year, Smith is 7-8-2 with 1 shutout, allowing 3.08 goals per game and stopping pucks at an .896 clip. In 19 career games against the Penguins, he’s 9-9-0 with a .914SV% and 2.67GAA.
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Kassian
Neal – Draisaitl – Gagner
Nygard – Haas – Chiasson
Khaira – Sheahan – Archibald
Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Bear
Russell – Jones
Smith
Dump the Oil.
Go Pens.
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