In a season with disappointments all across the standings, the Edmonton Oilers are one of the biggest. Following their loss Wednesday night to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Oilers are now 3-7-1.
Matt Murray made 35 saves in a 3-2 win for the Pens.
Evgeni Malkinpotted the game-winner in the third.
“Edmonton’s a good hockey team, they’ve got a lot of offensive weapons, they’re a dangerous team off the rush in particular,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought, for the most part, we had a pretty solid effort 5-on-5.”
Patric Hornqvist and Conor Sheary also struck for goals as the Pens snapped a two-game skid and improved to 8-5-1.
“For the whole team, this was a big effort for us,” Hornqvist said. “We all played really hard. We went back to the old school, winning one-on-one battles out there. When we do that, we have a good team, and obviously the power play helped us to win the game.”
The Oilers held a 2-1 lead on goals by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl but Sheary’s goal tied it ahead of Malkin’s winner.
“This one is pretty hard to swallow right now,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We were right there the whole game. There wasn’t much separating us. If anything, I thought we outplayed them a little bit.”
The Oilers may have been close but they are lacking the punch to take control of games and permitting the opposition to wrestle the outcomes away from them.
“We haven’t been good at holding that lead,” Edmonton’s Connor McDavid said. “We have to find a way to switch those timely goals around. I thought we generated a bit of momentum on the power play and had some good chances. It’s something to build off of, I guess.”
Nugent-Hopkins had a chance late to get the game tied but Murray made the save with 13 seconds left in regulation to snuff out the last Oilers’ opportunity.
WATCH: All Penguins vs. Oilers highlights
Cam Talbot made 27 saves in the loss.
“The pattern is similar to the way it’s been for a lot of games. We give up a goal late in the period, and whether it ties it up or changes things, we come out in the third period and do have those power-play opportunities and we didn’t do much with them,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said after the game. “Then they get their opportunity, and there’s a good chance they’re going to get one at some point the way the game is going, and they make good on it.”
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