Empty Thoughts: Penguins 5, Oilers 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 5-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers:

The Penguins are hobbled right now. They’ve been that way for the vast majority of the season. For the past few weeks, with Sidney Crosby out, Evgeni Malkin has largely carried the freight. When Kris Letang has been injured, John Marino has picked up extra minutes. With Patric Hornqvist out, Bryan Rust has emerged as a legit top-line winger.

(For that matter, the Oilers’ big names, specifically Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid were largely invisible.)

But in this game, those names who have propelled this team through injuries to its regular contributors were rather inert. Sure, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin combined to create a power-play goal. But they also conspired on a short-handed goal against. Even Jake Guentzel was held without a point.

In this game, the replacements’ replacements came through. Reserve defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and forward Joseph Blandisi each scored and did quite a bit to illustrate the faith management has in this organizations’ depth.

“It’s huge, especially given the circumstances right now with the amount of injuries that we have,” coach Mike Sullivan said to reporters in Edmonton. “To have different guys to step up and contribute offensively for us is necessary if we’re going to continue to find the win column. Guys are stepping up at different times. From a coaching standpoint, it’s been a lot of fun to watch because everybody’s been involved. It’s really a team effort in the true sense of the word. It just seems like every night, different people step up. That’s what it takes. That’s how we become a team.”

What happened

The opening goal came from an unlikely source at 7:56 of the first period. Collecting a rebound behind the Oilers’ cage, Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese fed a pass to forward Dominik Kahun in the right circle. Kahun then distributed the puck to Ruhwedel at the right point. Pulling the puck just slightly, Ruhwedel chucked a wrister on net. Goaltender Mike Smith stopped it initially but allowed the rebound to trickle into the cage. Penguins forward Jared McCann tied up Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom above the crease to provide a screen. Assists went to Kahun and Aston-Reese.

Exactly five minutes later, it became a 2-0 score. After killing off an Oilers power-play opportunity, Aston-Reese backhanded a puck from his own left half wall up to the neutral zone for Blandisi, recently freed from the penalty box. Using his speed to pull away from Klefbom, Blandisi attacked the net on a breakaway and tucked slick backhander through Smith’s five hole. Aston-Reese and defenseman Marcus Pettersson collected assists.

Edmonton got on the scoreboard at 6:41 of the second period. Off a “d-to-d” pass from defenseman Ethan Bear, Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse lifted a wrister from the left point. Oilers forward Zack Kassian was positioned above the crease and deflected the puck with his forehand past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s glove on the far side. Nurse and Bear netted assists.

Another breakaway produced the eventual game-winning goal at 15:36 of the second. After Bear fumbled a puck at the Penguins’ right point, McCann leaned down to poke it into the neutral zone and darted past Bear to created his own breakaway. Cruising in from the left wing, McCann showed forehand then tucked a slick backhander past Smith’s left skate for the unassisted score.

The Oilers made it interesting late in the second at the 19:37 mark when a pair of former Penguins forwards combined on a short-handed goal. Intercepting a pass from Malkin in the Oilers’ neutral zone, Josh Archibald pushed a pass up gently to the neutral zone for Riley Sheahan who did the rest of the work. As Letang applied passive defense to Sheahan, Archibald drove the crease. Faking a pass, Sheahan lifted a wrister from the right circle past Jarry’s glove on the near side. Archibald had the lone assist.

The Penguins made amends on that same power-play opportunity only 38 seconds into the third period. Corralling a puck at the right point, Malkin faked a slapper then fed a pass to Letang sliding low into the left circle. From just above the dot, Letang cranked a one-timer past Smith’s glove on the far side. Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson provided an inadvertent screen on the sequence. Malkin and Rust were credited with assists.

-A potential goal by McDavid at 16:24 of the third was waved off after officials ruled there was goaltending interference.

At 17:42 of the third, forward Brandon Tanev secured victory with an empty net score. Pettersson and Blueger rounded up assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Oilers’ led in shots, 28-26.

• Malkin led the game with six.

• Klefbom led the Oilers with five shots.

• Klefbom led the game with 25:55 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 25:35 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• The Penguins had 27-22 advantage in faceoffs (55 percent).

• Malkin was 15 for 23 (65 percent).

-Oilers forward Gaetan Haas (what a name) was 4 for 7 (57 percent).

• Larsson and Nurse each led the game with four blocked shots.

• Letang led the Penguins with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Jarry (25 wins) surpassed Sebastien Caron and Al Smith (24 each) for 20th place on the franchise’s career wins list.

• The Penguins have recorded points in 19 consecutive games against the Oilers going 15-0-4 since Dec. 5, 2007.

Randomly speaking

• Late in the game at 18:36 of the third period, Smith blew his top and jumped Malkin after Malkin barged into him:

• Smith took a roughing minor while Malkin was given a goaltending interference minor.

• That was only the fifth penalty Malkin has taken this season (10 penalty minutes total). He has averaged a mere 0.45 penalty minutes per game this season. That’s a considerable drop off from the 1.31 penalty minutes he averaged last season.

• Sheahan’s goal was only the third short-handed goal the Penguins have surrendered this season. By this point of the 2018-19 campaign, they had already allowed eight such goals.

Publicly speaking

• McCann joked that Blandisi gave him a blue print for his breakaway:

“It’s been a while since I got a breakaway. I just tried to slow down a bit. I knew I had a little bit of time. Just tried to pump fake and he bit there. … (Blandisi) kind of showed me the way there.”

• Smith gave a very Matt Murryian answer on his struggles as of late:

“You can only do so much, to be honest. The numbers obviously impact the way you assess a goalie from the outside looking in. But you can only control what you control as a goalie. You can’t control what’s going on in front of you, whether it’s deflections or breakaways or whatever it may be, power plays, penalty kills. You can’t control that stuff. So the numbers, when things are going bad, you’re looking at them going, ‘Oh, he’s not playing very well.’ But the last couple of games, I feel like I’ve played pretty solid. Just hadn’t made those big saves in important times in game. … I feel like I’m not letting in soft ones. Just the big ones, where there’s a higher chance, you need to make more of those.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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