Edmonton (6-5-1) at Pittsburgh (6-4-2) 7:00 p.m. EST
PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- After a long layoff, the Pittsburgh
Penguins are hoping to pick up where they left off.
The Penguins return home on Thursday to face the Edmonton Oilers
following their biggest offensive outburst of the young season.
Pittsburgh struggled to score early on, netting only 25 goals in
its first 11 games after finishing seventh in the NHL last
season with an average of 2.93 goals per game.
The Penguins' woes were obvious during their recent four-game
road trip as they managed four goals en route to a 0-2-1 start.
But Pittsburgh responded emphatically against the St. Louis
Blues on Saturday, closing the trek with a 6-3 victory in which
six different players scored.
It was the first time this season the Penguins eclipsed the
four-goal mark in a contest.
"It's big," said captain Sidney Crosby, who had two assists
against the Blues despite being questionable after suffering an
undisclosed injury against the Phoenix Coyotes on October 30.
"You want to make sure your confidence level is there, and I
think we had it."
The Penguins look to build on that momentum against the
road-weary Oilers, who have played nine of their 12 games this
campaign away from home and are 2-2-0 on their current
season-high seven game road trip.
Edmonton rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Columbus on
Wednesday with four straight goals but yielded the final three
of the contest, including Manny Malhotra's winner with 69
seconds remaining in the third period.
Ales Hemsky has been remarkable for the Oilers on the road,
extending his points streak away from home to six games with a
goal on Wednesday. The right wing has notched at least one
point in eight of Edmonton's nine road contests this season and
trails Boston's Marc Savard (12) by one for the league lead in
road scoring.