Pittsburgh has lost three straight games coming into a matchup that has not been kind to them
The Pittsburgh Penguins will play their first of a back-to-back Friday evening when they face the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
Pittsburgh has lost six straight games against Edmonton, and in each of those contests, the Oilers have scored no less than four goals and have won by a margin of at least three goals.
Whatever the cause, Edmonton has just not been a good matchup for the Penguins.
"We see these guys twice a year, so it's not like we have a huge body of work against them," head coach Mike Sullivan said . "They're obviously a very talented team. We haven't had our best the last couple of appearances against them, and we're very hopeful that we're going to bring our best [tonight]."
The Penguins have also had a hard time stopping the Oilers' two biggest stars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, which is something that they'll look to do tonight.
"I think it's a little bit counterintuitive because they're so dynamic and explosive, there's a tendency to want to give them space," Sullivan said. "Obviously, the more opportunity we have to limit their space, whether it's establishing gaps coming off the offensive blue line, whether it's tracking from behind to not give them the ability to move laterally and push the rush into our defensemen, I think those are important elements of it."
He continued: "I also think these guys are world-class players. We've gotta make sure we defend with numbers and we're not asking any one or two guys to defend these guys. It has to be a collective effort, and I think when we get a collective effort, that's when we're at our very best, and that's what is gonna be required to defend players of that caliber."
Rookie Joel Blomqvist gets the call to start between the pipes, and forward Jesse Puljujarvi will face his former team for the first time since leaving Edmonton. Puljujarvi was drafted fourth overall by the Oilers in 2016, and he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2022-23 season.
Pittsburgh looks to snap a three-game losing streak before they meet the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.