Pickard, Oilers rout Penguins, 4-0 The air is out of the Pens sails

In Pittsburgh, the Penguins season took yet another spin on the downward spiral on Sunday afternoon in a 4-0 loss to the visiting Edmonton Oilers. Calvin Pickard made 41 saves in the shutout win.

The Oilers moved to 39-21-3 off their sixth win in eight matches.

Pickard left the ice with 1:16 left in the middle frame following a collision with the Penguins’ Bryan Rust who was called for goalie interference.

Stuart Skinner iced the final seconds of the of the middle frame, Pickard returned for the third period. Pickard made 16 saves in the third period.

“It is great energy,” Pickard said. “It was a big game for us, especially coming off two losses. But it’s a team we’ve had success against. [We] played well against them last Sunday and hit the ground running today. Scored early and never really looked back.”

The Oilers took a 1-0 lead following an egregious giveaway by Kris Letang in his own zone. Connor McDavid put the puck home with 68 seconds gone in the game.

“We’ve played a lot of hockey lately,” McDavid said. “That’s no excuse, obviously, but six games in nine games with travel coast to coast, it’s been a grind here. So, we’ll take the two points here. We’ll take five of eight (points) on the road trip. And we’ll take a little rest at home.”

Mattias Ekholm  pushed the lead to 2-0 with a strike at 8:53 of the opening stanza, scoring off a shot form the right circle.

“You don’t have any other choice but to just muster it up,” Rust said. “Nobody is happy with what’s going on, how things have been going. I think it doesn’t matter how hard you may think it is. I think you’ve just got to find a way to make that confidence for yourself.”

The Penguins dropped to 28-27-8 off their third straight loss. They have scored onle once in those three games, while surrendering 15.

“All you can do is control the process, right?” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s not always just about shots; it’s about making the right plays at the right time. When the shot is there, we certainly want to take it. But it’s about getting quality looks.”

After a scoreless middle frame, the Oilers Darnell Nurse hit for a double in just over a five-minute span.

“The third period started, I was definitely thinking about, ‘When are we going to get that third goal?’” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Get the third goal, kind of finish this game, eliminates any push that they’re going to have. We were able to get that. A little bit later than I would have liked, but we did get it.”

Nurse stretched the advantage to 3-0 midway through the third, scoring off a set up by McDavid on a shot form the left side.

Nurse collected his double at 15:58, scoring from the upper slot for the 4-0 final count on the scoreboard.

Tristan Jarry made 38 saves in the loss.

“It’s obviously tough,” Jarry said. “I think just, collectively as a team, we’ve played very well. I think we’ve been giving up a lot of chances and obviously the puck hasn’t been going in for us, so I think it puts a cloud over a lot of guys.

“I think it’s tough when things are going this way and the puck’s not going in, and we’re giving up a lot of chances. I think that’s just a microcosm of our game in total.”