The Pittsburgh Penguins have built a contending team with a nucleus of players drafted at the top of the draft.
The Edmonton Oilers, not so much.
Pittsburgh defeated the Oilers 3-2, Tuesday night, in a match up of young superstars. In the last ten years, both teams have combined to draft seven players with one of the top five picks. Neither team disappointed to show off the speed and skill of those players, but in the end, the Penguins came away with their fifth win in six games.
Pascal Dupuis wasted no time getting the Penguins on the board in the first period, scoring 3:08 into the game. The Penguins controlled the puck well off the offensive-zone face off leading to Sidney Crosby setting up Dupuis in the right-wing circle. Dupuis’s wrist shot found its way through traffic and beat Jason LaBarbera through the five-hole.
Despite out-shooting the Oilers 15-4 in the first period, the Penguins went into the first intermission with just a 1-0 lead and down two men due to penalties from Paul Martin and Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins killed both minors but Ales Hemsky scored as Martin was coming out of the box. David Perron slipped behind Deryk Engelland and hit the post on a shot from in tight. The puck remained behind Fleury allowing Hemsky to swoop in and slam it into the net.
The goal appeared to give Edmonton life as they out-shot the Penguins 11-2 through the first ten minutes of the second period. But the Penguins retook the lead coming out of the commercial break on Chris Kunitz’s second goal of the season. Pascal Dupuis took a shot off the rush from the right point. Crosby partially deflected the biscuit on his way to the net and the puck trickled behind LaBarbera. The goaltender sprawled in a last-ditch effort to deny the goal, but Kunitz came in to blast the puck.
The Oilers tied the game around the four minute mark on a goal from Jordan Eberle. Marc-Andre Fleury made a diving save on Taylor Hall who was coming out from behind the net. The puck landed on Eberle’s stick and ended up in the back of the net as Fleury struggled to recover.
A penalty to former Penguin Andrew Ference led to a power play goal by Evgeni Malkin. Martin missed a one timer from the point but the puck slid to Malkin who fired a one-timer from the right face off dot past LaBarbera.
The Oilers pulled their goalie late in the game, but appeared to run out of gas having played their second game in a back-to-back sequence.
- Evgeni Malkin has now scored against every NHL team.
- The Oilers are 1-5-1 despite scoring the third most goals in the league.
- The Penguins are 4-0 at home for the first time since 1994.
Three Stars
- Sidney Crosby
- Pascal Dupuis
- Ales Hemsky
Photo courtesy of USA Today
