Only one team in the NHL’s Western Conference is already eliminated from playoff contention, and they are visiting Consol Energy Center on Thursday evening. The Edmonton Oilers (18-38-11, 47 points), like the Eastern Conference’s last-place Buffalo Sabres, are “battling” for the league’s worst record and the best chance at winning the draft lottery and the first pick in June.
Edmonton will have to deal with a Pittsburgh Penguins (38-18-10, 86 points) team that, despite playing better of late, still trails both New York teams in the Metropolitan Division standings. Pittsburgh is four points behind the Islanders for second place, but have three games in hand on the team from Long Island. The Rangers have a five point advantage and have the same number of games remaining as Pittsburgh.
The Penguins return to Consol after a four-game road trip out west, where they earned five points with two wins against Anaheim and Los Angeles and and a shootout loss at San Jose. Marc-Andre Fleury will be in net about five weeks after earning a shutout at Edmonton in the first meeting between the two teams. Pittsburgh won 2-0 that night to begin a three-game Pacific coast trip in early February. It was his seventh shutout of the season at the time; Fleury now has nine on the season.
Fleury may very well earn number ten tonight, on home ice and playing a team that has lost five straight and is 28th in the league in goals scored. Edmonton also gives up a ton of goals, not exactly a winning combination. With 227 allowed, they are second worst only to Buffalo (228) and have been a paltry 8-18-9 on the road.
In front of the goalie, defenseman Ian Cole makes his home debut in Penguins black and gold.
“I’ve been on the road for two weeks straight, so it’s really nice to get here, get to a new home,” he said. “It’s great to have a GPS in the car…it was a little harder actually navigating the locker room than it was getting here (to the arena).”
Ben Lovejoy also is back in Pittsburgh as a member of the home team though this is, of course, a return for the newly-acquired defenseman who had played in Anaheim before being traded.
“This is way different than when you’re in the opposing dressing room,” he said of playing again at Consol. “This is such a special place to play hockey. I’m so excited to be back, excited to play with this team, excited to help.”
Lovejoy also joked about having gotten lost this morning by taking a wrong turn. Against such a weak, uninspired Oilers offense, it seems unlikely that the Penguins defense will be taking many wrong turns on the ice tonight. In fact, the unit has done little wrong at all lately, allowing just three goals in the past three games.
Captain Sidney Crosby, regardless of the state of the opponent, was cautious about his team finding a rhythm after returning from the road.
“We need to get back to that routine, make sure we’re good here,” he said. “We need to keep that momentum going from the trip.”
Finally, David Perron welcomes his former teammates to Pittsburgh. The winger began the season as an Oiler, but was traded to Pittsburgh and has been much more productive as a Penguin than he was with Edmonton.
In goal opposite Fleury is Edmonton’s Ben Scrivens (12-22-8, 2.92 GAA, .898 save %). The Oilers are led by Jordan Eberle and young up-and-coming stars and former first-round draft picks Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov.
The Oilers are the first of three visitors over the next four days, and the Pens will want to build plenty of momentum before Boston and Detroit play in Pittsburgh Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The puck drops at 7:00 pm.
