The Pittsburgh Penguins achieved a 6-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, marking their third consecutive win and second in as many nights. This result improves the team’s record to 10-2-2 since the holiday break and moves them into second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Anthony Mantha scored twice for Pittsburgh, while Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, Evgeni Malkin, and Egor Chinakhov also contributed goals. Goaltender Arturs Silovs made 29 saves in the game.
“The guys, they came ready to play,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “You’re playing a back-to-back, and the other team’s fresh. There’s plenty of things that you can have for excuses – travel, tired, and all that. And I thought with our group, it’s a huge credit to them. There was none of that.
“Really liked the offensive execution, but I liked a lot of things we were doing on the defensive side. Just the way the guys were working, just the overall team game.”
The Penguins scored three goals within a 37-second span during the first three minutes of play against an Oilers team that has recently appeared in two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. According to Penguins PR, only twice before—in 1993 and 1972—has Pittsburgh scored three goals in a shorter timeframe.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think you expect that,” Crosby said. “Moe (Mantha) had a big shift there, got a couple goals. Gave us a boost, and I thought we were just ready to play from the start. And sometimes, it works out that way.”
A key defensive moment came when Jack St. Ivany blocked a shot from Evan Bouchard during an abbreviated Edmonton power play late in the first period.
“Like, we needed that,” Muse said about St. Ivany’s block. “We had a breakdown, and we needed something big in that moment, and he came up with it. And he just stuck with it. Credit to him. I thought he came back and played a really strong game after that as well.”
St. Ivany finished with two assists for his second straight game with multiple points; Parker Wotherspoon also prevented an Oilers goal by clearing a loose puck near the goal line at the end of the period.
Erik Karlsson returned to Pittsburgh’s lineup after missing several games due to injury.
“Guys did an excellent job today,” Silovs said.
In early second-period action, after Connor McDavid was penalized giving Pittsburgh a power play opportunity, Jake Walman scored shorthanded for Edmonton; however, Pittsburgh responded soon after with Rakell scoring on another man advantage following strong playmaking from Malkin.
Less than two minutes later Malkin intercepted a pass at his own blue line before scoring on former teammate Tristan Jarry for Pittsburgh’s fifth goal.
When asked about retirement after his performance at age 39 Malkin replied: “I never say I want to retire. It’s all you. I feel great, and I like how we play. It’s always fun to win.”
Chinakhov added another goal early in the third period—his fifth since joining Pittsburgh—after having previously scored three times this season with Columbus prior to being traded.
“I like how our line play right now, Tommy (Novak) and Chinny,” Malkin said.
Silovs faced 31 shots overall as Edmonton managed one more late goal but could not mount a comeback.
“I thought there was some huge saves throughout the entire game,” Muse said regarding Silovs’ performance.“I thought it was another game where it was big saves,but also at big moments ,where maybe momentum could have really swung other way,and he came up big.And so,I thought it was really strong game for him.”
Following this stretch,the Penguins will take Friday off before practicing Saturday.They conclude their road trip Sunday in Vancouver .
“I think we have a great team.Just stay same level,”Malkin said.“We have chance to win every game.”
