The Pittsburgh Penguins will complete their regular-season series with the Edmonton Oilers (31-19-8) on Thursday evening at PPG Paints Arena.

The Oilers earned a 6-3 victory in the first meeting Oct. 24, in Edmonton.

Looking up and down Edmonton’s four lines, it’s hard to find weak spots. More specifically, it’s difficult to highlight a specific line that isn’t capable of putting the puck in the net on a regular basis.

Edmonton leads the NHL in goals scored (218) and average goals (3.76).

Its star player, Connor McDavid, needs no introduction; the 26-year-old phenom already has eclipsed 100 points this season (44 goals, 61 assists) in 58 games, his sixth 100-point NHL campaign in seven full seasons. He surpassed 800 career points with a two-goal effort in a win over the Flyers on Tuesday.

“He’s finding a way every year to get better when you just don’t think it’s possible,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “That’s not a knock on him; he’s just setting the bar really high, and he continues to push it.”

Fellow center Leon Draisaitl similarly has had no trouble in producing offensively for the Oilers, as evidenced by his 34 goals and 51 assists. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is third on the team with 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists).

For the Penguins, completely shutting down the likes of McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins and the long list of Oilers players capable of inflicting damage in the offensive zone may be a hopeless aspiration.

They will instead try to play disciplined and perform enough damage control to work toward a victory.

“These guys are really good players. They’re going to get their looks,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re going to have to try to mitigate the amount of looks they get but also the quality of the looks they get through structuring and collective effort away from the puck.”

Dangerous power play

Whether they are on home ice or away from Edmonton, there’s been little slowing down of the Oilers’ power play this season.

Both at Rogers Place (33.6%) and on the road (29.4%), Edmonton’s conversion rates on the power play pace the NHL, as do the Oilers’ 37 goals scored with a man-advantage.

Looking to counter Edmonton’s explosive power play will be a Penguins penalty-killing unit that, despite being one of the stronger pillars of the team’s game for the majority of this season, ranks 14th in the league with a kill rate of 80.6%.

“We have to be really disciplined,” defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. “Our kill’s at its best when we only have to kill one, two (or) three (power plays) a game. Anything more than that, it’s challenging. That’s first and foremost, but secondly, obviously they have a lot of threats and a lot of talent. … We’ve got to just trust each other and make the right reads.”

Shorthanded ‘D’

Only six defensemen took the ice for the Penguins’ Wednesday morning practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, with Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry notably absent.

Per Sullivan, Petry was sick and was sent home before practice began, and Pettersson’s absence was pre-approved.

Jan Rutta, who has been on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 14, participated in practice and is eligible to return to the roster, but Sullivan did not address the 32-year-old blueliner’s status in his post-practice remarks to the media.

When Rutta does return, the Penguins will need to make a series of transactions in order to re-absorb his $2.75-million cap hit. Per CapFriendly, the Penguins have a measly $18,430 available in cap space.

The only forward not present at Wednesday’s practice was Ryan Poehling, who has been dealing with an undisclosed injury that’s sidelined him for nearly two weeks.

The Penguins utilized the following lines and defensive pairings Wednesday:

59 Jake Guentzel-87 Sidney Crosby-67 Rickard Rakell

16 Jason Zucker-71 Evgeni Malkin-17 Bryan Rust

23 Brock McGinn-77 Jeff Carter-42 Kasperi Kapanen

10-Drew O’Connor-53 Teddy Blueger-15 Josh Archibald

8 Brian Dumoulin-58 Kris Letang

73-P.O Joseph-2 Chad Ruhwedel

52 Mark Friedman-44 Jan Rutta

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