Calvin Pickard makes 40 saves as Edmonton Oilers shut out Penguins 4-0

Article content

The Edmonton Oilers didn’t need Daylight Savings time to lose any sleep.

That already happened with the two-game losing skid they brought into PPG Paints Arena on Sunday, before springing back ahead with a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Article content

Forty-save shutouts aside, it was the same end result they probably should have have had against the equally hapless Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres on their previous two stops of a four-game Eastern Conference road trip. Instead, it drew to a close in a dissatisfying 2-1-1.

Article content

It couldn’t have started any better, either, winning their fifth-consecutive game with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, thanks to the very performance the Oilers will be looking to replicate come playoff time. Slow, controlled and defence heavy.

Instead, they followed that one up with back-to-back losses against teams that should really have no business beating them at this point. Especially not after having added a couple of pieces in former Anaheim Ducks centres Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick.

And with just 20 games left on the schedule, the Oilers didn’t exactly have the luxury of time in getting back on track.

So, cue the Penguins. The same team the Oilers handily dispatched by a 6-1 score exactly one week earlier at Rogers Place. Pittsburgh came in having lost not only five of their previous six, but also Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline.

And now there are growing rumblings Sid ‘The Former Kid’ Crosby could one day make his exit from a Penguins club painfully in need a youth movement and finding itself in clear and present danger of missing playoffs for the second time in a row, following a run of 16 consecutive post-seasons.

Article content

Article content

They fell to 28-27-8, and sit eight points out of a wild-card spot, while Edmonton’s sixth straight win against the Penguins (outscoring them 33-9) pushed them to 39-21-3, 10 points behind a Vancouver Canucks squad sitting first in the Western Conference.

McDavid capitalized on a turnover by Penguins defenceman Kris Letang in Pittsburgh’s zone, skating in with a head of steam and wristing one past the blocker of Tristan Jarry to go ahead 1-0 on Edmonton’s first shot of the game just 68 seconds in.

It was McDavid’s 101st point on the season — the seventh triple-digit performance of his career — after being held pointless the night earlier, ending a 13-game point streak (two goals, 27 assists). The Oilers captain ended the game with a goal and two assists.

Another turnover, this one in the Edmonton zone when Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard crosschecked new arrival Michael Bunting to the ice, led to a one-timer from the point by Mattias Ekholm that got past the glove of Jarry for a 2-0 lead at 8:53.

It was Ekholm’s first goal in 40 games, dating back to Dec. 6.

John Ludvig took some frustration out in the form of a series of quick left hands against Oilers forward Warren Foegele following a high stick on fellow Penguins defenceman Erik Karlsson midway through the second period.

Article content

Foegele could barely get in a couple of shots worth of retaliation before his first NHL fight was taken down to the ice.

Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard was sidelined momentarily by the NHL’s concussion spotter after getting steamrolled by Bryan Rust in the dying minutes of the second.

It was a yard sale of gloves and goal stick as the Penguins forward drove to the net, unable to stop before colliding with a kneeling Pickard, who had no choice but to stand his ground and stop the puck.

Pickard returned for the final frame to put the finishing touches on a shared shutout, stopping all 40 shots by Pittsburgh to improve to 4-1-1 all-time against the Penguins. He was spelled off by Stuart Skinner for 1:16.

Unlike one day earlier, which saw Edmonton turn a 2-0 lead against the Sabres into just a single point in the standings in a 3-2 shootout loss, Darnell Nurse gave the Oilers some insurance Sunday on a pass to the slot by McDavid at 10:42.

And not just once, but twice, sending a wrist shot from the point past Jarry’s glove for his second of the period in a span of 5:15.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

Article content